The Carajás Mine is the world's largest iron ore mine and is located in the state of Para in Northern Brazil.
Fully owned by Brazilian miner Vale (CVRD), the mine holds over 1.5 billion tons of iron ore in reserves.
The Carajas region boasts the richest reserves and concentrations of iron ore anywhere in the world and was discovered entirely by accident in the late 60s when a US Steel Helicopter was forced to land on a hill in the area to refuel. Surveyors on board noted the baron state of the hill and subsequently discovered that the iron content was as high as 66%.
Other mineral deposits were discovered later; Carajás is rich not only in iron ore but also ores for manganese, copper, tin, aluminium and even gold.
US Steel wanted to develop the Carajás iron deposit but the Brazilian Government was unwilling to hand control over to a foreign company. Brazil is currently the world's largest exporter of iron ore with annual production of over 200Mt.
In 1970 the Brazilian government opted instead to create a joint venture company, Amazonias Mineração SA (AMZA), of which 51% was owned by Vale and 49% was
US Steel subsequently withdrew from the joint venture in 1977 by selling its share to CVRD for $55m. Vale produced a record 296 million metric tons of iron ore at the Carajas Mine for 2007, a 12% rise on 2006. Vale is expected to announce in 2008 the results of a tender for the expansion of the Carajas mine. The $2.48bn project, "Carajas 130," will add 30 million tons a year to the current capacity of 100 million tons a year, the company says.
Geology and reserves
The Carajás ores are found within Archaean iron formations. The volcanic sequence has been weathered to a depth of between 100m and 150m, while oxidation is observed to a depth of up to 500m in the BIFs of the ore zone.
The upper 80% of the reserve comprises a soft, friable enriched limonite near surface passing down into hematite to a vertical depth of around 300m. Hematite rich, but harder and more siliceous pods occur within the soft hematite, but also as a transition to the un-enriched BIF at depth.
The Carajás District contains known reserves of the order of 18 billion tons with an average grade of 65.4% Fe. The reserves are distributed in a number of deposit groups, the largest of which is the North Range with - 6,200Mt @ 65.8% Fe, 0.038% P, 1.0% SiO2, 1.05% Al2O3, 0.45% Mn, 0.01% S, 0.02% KO, 0.03% Na2O and 1.88% LOI. The other reserves include: South Range, 35km to the south – 10,400Mt @ 66.3% Fe; East Ridge – 400Mt @ 65.9% Fe; and South Felix Ridge – 600Mt @ 62.8% Fe. The current production contains < 1% Al2O3, < 1% SiO2, < 0.03% P2O5 and < 0.3Mn, with about 10% lump and 90% fines.
Monday, May 11, 2009
Blue Ridge PGE Project, South Africa
Ridge Mining's Blue Ridge project is situated on the Blaauwbank farm, about 30km south-east of Groblersdal, on the eastern limb of the Bushveld Igneous Complex (BIC), South Africa.
Ridge Mining started exploration work on the project in 2001 and completed a feasibility study at the end of 2005. Mine development, estimated to cost $170m, began in January 2007.
The project is a 50:50 joint venture between Ridge Mining and BEE partner Imbani, which had invested more than $100m of equity by December 2008. In December 2007, project finance agreements were signed with a consortium of banks consisting of the Development Bank of Southern Africa, the Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa, Standard Bank and Investec Bank for R715m, giving full finance through to first production, which is set for the end of 2008.
The cash operating cost assumption for Blue Ridge is $660/oz to produce platinum, palladium, rhodium and gold, giving an expected payback period of five years.
The eastern limb of the BIC, like the rest of the complex, consists of distinct rock strata, including three PGE-bearing layers known as reefs, with one being the UG2 chromitite reef.
The PGEs in the UG2 chromitite occur primarily in discrete mineral phases, varying from sulphide assemblages (predominantly cooperite, braggite, malanite and laurite) to those consisting of a significant component of alloys (such as Pt-Fe alloy) or various telluride, bismuthinide, bismuthotelluride, arsenide and sulpharsenide phases.
Resources
Total Measured, Indicated and Inferred resources are put at 89.9Mt, which includes 38.7Mt of Indicated resources from the neighbouring Millennium area, acquired by Ridge in March 2008, giving a contained 4PGE figure of 9.2Moz at an average grade of 3.2g/t. Total Proved and Probable reserves are nearly 22Mt to give a contained 4PGE figure of nearly 2.3Moz at 3.3g/t.
Production
The mine development is based on two decline shafts; a 700m-long belt decline, which will be used for transporting ore, and an 850m-long truck decline. During 2008 work focused on opening up production levels and faces in readiness for mining to begin in earnest. The plan is to mine only the higher grade portion of the reef, using a method called "Efficient Cut".
Before the plant was commissioned, Ridge Mining stockpiled more than 200,000t of ore – about two months’ worth of throughput for the plant in full production – allowing enough ore to be processed through the concentrator plant while the underground workings continue the ramp-up to full capacity, which is planned for the middle of 2009.
Annually the mine is forecast to produce about 75,000oz of platinum, 35,000oz of palladium, 22,000oz of ruthenium, 13,000oz of rhodium, 2,500oz of iridium and 1,500oz of gold over its initial 18-year life.
Processing
The ore will be processed using crushing, milling and flotation, then milling and flotation again to produce a concentrate. The ore will be fed through a primary ball mill and into primary roughers and cleaners, from where some of the feed will go to a care thickener and the rest to a secondary ball mill and roughers and cleaners, then on to tails thickeners. The concentrator plant is next to the entrance to the main decline shaft, which has a conveyor belt to bring the ore to the surface. Processing testwork show recoveries into concentrate of 82%-86%.
Ridge Mining started exploration work on the project in 2001 and completed a feasibility study at the end of 2005. Mine development, estimated to cost $170m, began in January 2007.
The project is a 50:50 joint venture between Ridge Mining and BEE partner Imbani, which had invested more than $100m of equity by December 2008. In December 2007, project finance agreements were signed with a consortium of banks consisting of the Development Bank of Southern Africa, the Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa, Standard Bank and Investec Bank for R715m, giving full finance through to first production, which is set for the end of 2008.
The cash operating cost assumption for Blue Ridge is $660/oz to produce platinum, palladium, rhodium and gold, giving an expected payback period of five years.
The eastern limb of the BIC, like the rest of the complex, consists of distinct rock strata, including three PGE-bearing layers known as reefs, with one being the UG2 chromitite reef.
The PGEs in the UG2 chromitite occur primarily in discrete mineral phases, varying from sulphide assemblages (predominantly cooperite, braggite, malanite and laurite) to those consisting of a significant component of alloys (such as Pt-Fe alloy) or various telluride, bismuthinide, bismuthotelluride, arsenide and sulpharsenide phases.
Resources
Total Measured, Indicated and Inferred resources are put at 89.9Mt, which includes 38.7Mt of Indicated resources from the neighbouring Millennium area, acquired by Ridge in March 2008, giving a contained 4PGE figure of 9.2Moz at an average grade of 3.2g/t. Total Proved and Probable reserves are nearly 22Mt to give a contained 4PGE figure of nearly 2.3Moz at 3.3g/t.
Production
The mine development is based on two decline shafts; a 700m-long belt decline, which will be used for transporting ore, and an 850m-long truck decline. During 2008 work focused on opening up production levels and faces in readiness for mining to begin in earnest. The plan is to mine only the higher grade portion of the reef, using a method called "Efficient Cut".
Before the plant was commissioned, Ridge Mining stockpiled more than 200,000t of ore – about two months’ worth of throughput for the plant in full production – allowing enough ore to be processed through the concentrator plant while the underground workings continue the ramp-up to full capacity, which is planned for the middle of 2009.
Annually the mine is forecast to produce about 75,000oz of platinum, 35,000oz of palladium, 22,000oz of ruthenium, 13,000oz of rhodium, 2,500oz of iridium and 1,500oz of gold over its initial 18-year life.
Processing
The ore will be processed using crushing, milling and flotation, then milling and flotation again to produce a concentrate. The ore will be fed through a primary ball mill and into primary roughers and cleaners, from where some of the feed will go to a care thickener and the rest to a secondary ball mill and roughers and cleaners, then on to tails thickeners. The concentrator plant is next to the entrance to the main decline shaft, which has a conveyor belt to bring the ore to the surface. Processing testwork show recoveries into concentrate of 82%-86%.
Black Thunder Coal Mine, WY, USA
The Black Thunder thermal coal mine, located in the Southern Powder River Basin of Wyoming, opened in 1977 and for many years was the largest single coal operation in the US. Having been relegated to second-largest, after Peabody's North Antelope-Rochelle operation, also in the Powder River Basin, in 2004 Black Thunder once again became the nation's leading coal-producer following Arch Coal's acquisition of the neighbouring North Rochelle mine from Triton Coal Co. The combined operation is now producing coal at a rate of around 91Mt/y, equivalent to about 10% of total US coal production. In 2004, Black Thunder became the first coal mine in the US to ship a cumulative 1,000Mst (907Mt) over its 27-year life to date.
Construction began at Black Thunder in 1976 with the installation of crushing, conveying, sampling and high-speed train-loading systems. Today, all plant processes are computer controlled, including the precision loadout systems and the hi-tech, near-pit crushing and conveying system installed in 1989.
Until 1998, Black Thunder was owned and operated by ARCO Coal, part of the Atlantic Richfield group. It is now owned by Arch Coal, the second-largest coal miner in the US, which bought the property following ARCO's withdrawal from the coal market.
GEOLOGY AND RESERVES
Black Thunder works coal reserves in the Wyodak seam. Hosted in the palaeocene Fort Union formation, which covers vast areas of Wyoming, Montana and the Dakotas, the seam at Black Thunder is gently dipping, 22m thick and locally splits into the Anderson and Canyon beds separated by up to 18m of waste. In 2004, Arch successfully bid $611m for the rights to mine the neighbouring Little Thunder reserves, which contain some 650Mt of recoverable coal, increasing the property’s reserves to 1,370Mt-plus.
COAL QUALITY
The mine produces low-sulphur, sub-bituminous coal suitable for power station fuel without any preparation except crushing. Black Thunder coal has a heating value of 20.3MJ/kg, and the ash contents are around 5% while as-received moisture is 25–30%. The moisture content of some Powder River Basin coals increases their reactivity to the extent that spontaneous combustion can be a problem if they are not properly handled.
Construction began at Black Thunder in 1976 with the installation of crushing, conveying, sampling and high-speed train-loading systems. Today, all plant processes are computer controlled, including the precision loadout systems and the hi-tech, near-pit crushing and conveying system installed in 1989.
Until 1998, Black Thunder was owned and operated by ARCO Coal, part of the Atlantic Richfield group. It is now owned by Arch Coal, the second-largest coal miner in the US, which bought the property following ARCO's withdrawal from the coal market.
GEOLOGY AND RESERVES
Black Thunder works coal reserves in the Wyodak seam. Hosted in the palaeocene Fort Union formation, which covers vast areas of Wyoming, Montana and the Dakotas, the seam at Black Thunder is gently dipping, 22m thick and locally splits into the Anderson and Canyon beds separated by up to 18m of waste. In 2004, Arch successfully bid $611m for the rights to mine the neighbouring Little Thunder reserves, which contain some 650Mt of recoverable coal, increasing the property’s reserves to 1,370Mt-plus.
COAL QUALITY
The mine produces low-sulphur, sub-bituminous coal suitable for power station fuel without any preparation except crushing. Black Thunder coal has a heating value of 20.3MJ/kg, and the ash contents are around 5% while as-received moisture is 25–30%. The moisture content of some Powder River Basin coals increases their reactivity to the extent that spontaneous combustion can be a problem if they are not properly handled.
Bingham Canyon Copper Mine, UT, USA
Located near Salt Lake City, Utah, US, Bingham Canyon celebrated its 100th anniversary in June 2003. The Bingham Canyon mine, Copperton concentrator and Garfield smelter comprise one of the largest and most up-to-date integrated copper operations in the world: major investments during the past 15 years have ensured economically and environmentally sound operation. Cumulative copper output is now about 17Mt, more than any other mine.
For much of its life, Bingham Canyon was owned by Kennecott Copper Corp. However, during the post-1973 oil crisis shake-out, the company was acquired by British Petroleum, then sold on to Rio Tinto, which operates Bingham Canyon through its 100% subsidiary, Kennecott Utah Copper Corp. The facilities employ about 1,400 people.
In early 2005, Rio Tinto committed $170m to the East 1 pushback project, which will extend the life of the open pit at Bingham Canyon until 2017.
Following research from analysts and investors, Rio revealed in 2008 it was studying deepening the 1.2km pit to shore up an extra 2.83 million tonnes of copper resources.
If this came into fruition, the additional contained copper resources could extend the mine's life from 2019 to 2036, with plans for a subsequent underground mine extending its life even further.
Rio hopes to begin the project in 2009, which is estimated to produce copper valuing about $22.67bn at current prices.
GEOLOGY AND RESERVES
The classic copper porphyry orebody is not only huge but also enjoys a fairly uniform distribution of sulphide mineralisation, mainly chalcopyrite. The existing pit will be worked out by 2013, but open pit and then underground mining will continue after that. As of end-2005, proven and probable open-pit reserves totalled 667Mt grading 0.54% copper, 0.043% molybdenum, 0.32g/t gold and 2.59g/t silver. Total open-pit and underground mineral resources were 960Mt at 0.7% copper, 0.3g/t gold, 0.03% moly and 3.1g/t silver.
OPEN-PIT MINING
The Bingham Canyon pit is now 4km across and very deep. Mining uses a rotary drilling/blasting – shovel/truck – in-pit crushing system, with two to four blasts per day. To contain costs, management has been quick to utilise the most cost-effective drilling, loading and haulage equipment and management tools available.
One of the first of the recent series of major investments was an in-pit, semi-mobile gyratory crushing unit linked to the Copperton Concentrator by an 8km conveyor system. This reduced haulage distances from the working faces substantially but even so the mine needs a large fleet of Caterpillar mechanical drive and Komatsu electric-drive trucks, mostly of 218t-capacity, to service ten P&H electric rope shovels.
For much of its life, Bingham Canyon was owned by Kennecott Copper Corp. However, during the post-1973 oil crisis shake-out, the company was acquired by British Petroleum, then sold on to Rio Tinto, which operates Bingham Canyon through its 100% subsidiary, Kennecott Utah Copper Corp. The facilities employ about 1,400 people.
In early 2005, Rio Tinto committed $170m to the East 1 pushback project, which will extend the life of the open pit at Bingham Canyon until 2017.
Following research from analysts and investors, Rio revealed in 2008 it was studying deepening the 1.2km pit to shore up an extra 2.83 million tonnes of copper resources.
If this came into fruition, the additional contained copper resources could extend the mine's life from 2019 to 2036, with plans for a subsequent underground mine extending its life even further.
Rio hopes to begin the project in 2009, which is estimated to produce copper valuing about $22.67bn at current prices.
GEOLOGY AND RESERVES
The classic copper porphyry orebody is not only huge but also enjoys a fairly uniform distribution of sulphide mineralisation, mainly chalcopyrite. The existing pit will be worked out by 2013, but open pit and then underground mining will continue after that. As of end-2005, proven and probable open-pit reserves totalled 667Mt grading 0.54% copper, 0.043% molybdenum, 0.32g/t gold and 2.59g/t silver. Total open-pit and underground mineral resources were 960Mt at 0.7% copper, 0.3g/t gold, 0.03% moly and 3.1g/t silver.
OPEN-PIT MINING
The Bingham Canyon pit is now 4km across and very deep. Mining uses a rotary drilling/blasting – shovel/truck – in-pit crushing system, with two to four blasts per day. To contain costs, management has been quick to utilise the most cost-effective drilling, loading and haulage equipment and management tools available.
One of the first of the recent series of major investments was an in-pit, semi-mobile gyratory crushing unit linked to the Copperton Concentrator by an 8km conveyor system. This reduced haulage distances from the working faces substantially but even so the mine needs a large fleet of Caterpillar mechanical drive and Komatsu electric-drive trucks, mostly of 218t-capacity, to service ten P&H electric rope shovels.
Benguérir Phosphates Mine, Morocco
Located 70km north of Marrakesh, Benguérir is the newest of Morocco’s four phosphate mining centres, having started production in 1979–80. Operated by Office Chérifien des Phosphates (OCP), the opencast mine works 24h/d in three shifts and is managed together with the Youssoufia mining and treatment centre. OCP employs around 775 people at Benguérir.
OCP, a state-owned agency formed in 1920, is solely responsible for the Benguérir, Khouribga and Youssoufia mines in central Morocco. The Oued Eddahab deposits in Western Sahara are worked by Phosboucraa, in which OCP acquired a majority interest during 1975.
OCP moved into downstream processing in 1965, converting lower-grade rock to phosphoric acid and fertilisers at its plants at the coastal town of Safi. In 1975, Maroc Phosphore was established as a 100% subsidiary of Groupe OCP, primarily to add value to more rock and to export intermediate phosphate products. The first complex was built at that time.
A second – Maroc Phosphore II – was commissioned in 1981 and a number of joint venture operations since have been established with foreign fertiliser manufacturers, the most recent project involving the Brazilian company, Bunge.
GEOLOGY AND RESERVES
Morocco’s enormous measured phosphorite resources of 85,000Mt are hosted in upper cretaceous, palaeocene and eocene sediments. Sequences comprising clays, marls, limestones and cherts contain several phosphate-rich beds. Benguérir exploits the north-central section, and Youssoufia the western part of the Ganntour reserves (31,000Mt).
Phosphate-rich beds C5 and C6 have been worked near surface while beds C1 to C6 can be worked down dip. Mineable phosphate-rich beds range from 1m to 3m in thickness and grade 22% to 28% P2O5.
MINING
In the first phase of operations (1980–94), up to 3.1Mt/y was mined from the C5 and C6 beds in the near-surface western area. Phase 2 (1994–2018) has continued at the same rate, but is now planned to rise to 4.5Mt/y as beds C1 to C4 are accessed down-dip. The strip ratio currently averages 3.5:1.
Six benches of overburden and phosphate are drilled with rotary blasthole drills and blasted. The waste is stripped by draglines, which dump the rock in the already mined out void and the phosphate loaded by electric shovel or wheel-loader into trucks for haulage to the primary crusher.
The current equipment fleet comprises: two Marion 7500 walking draglines, two P&H 2355 crawler draglines, two Bucyrus-Erie 200B draglines and two B-E 155 electric shovels, two Caterpillar 992C wheeled loaders, six blasthole drills, 22 dump trucks (from 75t to 150t capacity), 24 bulldozers, three graders and three water spray trucks.
OCP acquired the P&H draglines, two Cat and two Komatsu large dozers and four 136t Komatsu haul trucks have been bought for Phase 2.
ORE PROCESSING
Only simple treatment is undertaken at Benguérir. Feeders remove chert and flint ahead of a Krupp primary jaw crusher, which discharges to open storage. A reclaimer supplies a Koch screening plant, which separates plus-10mm waste and supplies minus-10mm wet product at 1,000t/hr by conveyor to the 800,000t-capacity storage/reclaim system.
Moist screened rock is mainly railed 167km to the chemical complex at Safi on the Atlantic coast, with the balance going first to Youssoufia for blending and processing there and thence to Safi.
Here, Benguérir rock is mainly used as feed for the Maroc Phosphore II facility, which incorporates four FCB rock washing lines and three 160,000t/y phosphoric acid plants.
OCP, a state-owned agency formed in 1920, is solely responsible for the Benguérir, Khouribga and Youssoufia mines in central Morocco. The Oued Eddahab deposits in Western Sahara are worked by Phosboucraa, in which OCP acquired a majority interest during 1975.
OCP moved into downstream processing in 1965, converting lower-grade rock to phosphoric acid and fertilisers at its plants at the coastal town of Safi. In 1975, Maroc Phosphore was established as a 100% subsidiary of Groupe OCP, primarily to add value to more rock and to export intermediate phosphate products. The first complex was built at that time.
A second – Maroc Phosphore II – was commissioned in 1981 and a number of joint venture operations since have been established with foreign fertiliser manufacturers, the most recent project involving the Brazilian company, Bunge.
GEOLOGY AND RESERVES
Morocco’s enormous measured phosphorite resources of 85,000Mt are hosted in upper cretaceous, palaeocene and eocene sediments. Sequences comprising clays, marls, limestones and cherts contain several phosphate-rich beds. Benguérir exploits the north-central section, and Youssoufia the western part of the Ganntour reserves (31,000Mt).
Phosphate-rich beds C5 and C6 have been worked near surface while beds C1 to C6 can be worked down dip. Mineable phosphate-rich beds range from 1m to 3m in thickness and grade 22% to 28% P2O5.
MINING
In the first phase of operations (1980–94), up to 3.1Mt/y was mined from the C5 and C6 beds in the near-surface western area. Phase 2 (1994–2018) has continued at the same rate, but is now planned to rise to 4.5Mt/y as beds C1 to C4 are accessed down-dip. The strip ratio currently averages 3.5:1.
Six benches of overburden and phosphate are drilled with rotary blasthole drills and blasted. The waste is stripped by draglines, which dump the rock in the already mined out void and the phosphate loaded by electric shovel or wheel-loader into trucks for haulage to the primary crusher.
The current equipment fleet comprises: two Marion 7500 walking draglines, two P&H 2355 crawler draglines, two Bucyrus-Erie 200B draglines and two B-E 155 electric shovels, two Caterpillar 992C wheeled loaders, six blasthole drills, 22 dump trucks (from 75t to 150t capacity), 24 bulldozers, three graders and three water spray trucks.
OCP acquired the P&H draglines, two Cat and two Komatsu large dozers and four 136t Komatsu haul trucks have been bought for Phase 2.
ORE PROCESSING
Only simple treatment is undertaken at Benguérir. Feeders remove chert and flint ahead of a Krupp primary jaw crusher, which discharges to open storage. A reclaimer supplies a Koch screening plant, which separates plus-10mm waste and supplies minus-10mm wet product at 1,000t/hr by conveyor to the 800,000t-capacity storage/reclaim system.
Moist screened rock is mainly railed 167km to the chemical complex at Safi on the Atlantic coast, with the balance going first to Youssoufia for blending and processing there and thence to Safi.
Here, Benguérir rock is mainly used as feed for the Maroc Phosphore II facility, which incorporates four FCB rock washing lines and three 160,000t/y phosphoric acid plants.
Batu Hijau Copper-Gold Mine, Indonesia
Batu Hijau copper-gold mine is located on the Indonesian island of Sumbawa in the province of West Nusa Tenggara, 1,530km east of Jakarta. The Contract of Work for the project is held by PT Newmont Nusa Tenggara (PTNNT), a company owned by Newmont Indonesia Ltd (USA, 45%); Nusa Tenggara Mining Corporation (Japan, 35%) and PT Pukuafu Indah (Indonesia, 20%). Newmont is the project operator and has a 52.875% equity stake.
Construction of the mine and its associated infrastructure was completed in 1999, after PTNNT had spent ten years exploring the resource, with commercial production beginning in 2000. The operation continues to be one of Newmont’s lowest cost assets. In 2005, copper sales fell 16.2% to 259,780t (2004= 310,000t) at an applicable cost of $0.53/lb and an average realised price before TRCs of $1.45/lb. However, consolidated gold sales rose to 720,500oz at applicable costs of $152/oz, as compared with 715,000oz in 2004.
Power for the project is supplied by a 120MW coal-fired plant supported by nine diesel generators.
Bata Hijau is a major gold-rich porphyry copper deposit typical of the islands of southeast Asia. These gold-rich porphyries are overwhelmingly hosted by composite stocks of diorite to quartz-diorite and, to a much lesser degree, more felsic compositions such as tonalite and monzogranite. The deposits tend to be characterised by a strong correlation between the distribution of copper sulphides (chalcopyrite and bornite) and gold as the native metal in addition to having a notably higher magnetite content. Gold typically occurs as minute (<10-15 micron) inclusions in the copper sulphides.
As of the end of 2005, Batu Hijau had an ore reserve containing 2.77Mt copper with 0.69g/t gold. At current production rates, mining should continue until 2025.
MINING AND MILLING
Batu Hijau is an open-pit mine. Ore is transported to the primary crushers using P&H 4100 electric mining shovels and a fleet of 220t-capacity Caterpillar 793C mechanical-drive haul trucks. The mine typically handles around 600,000t/d of ore and waste, the ore grading an average 0.49% copper and 0.39g/t gold.
Following primary crushing, the ore is transported to the concentrator by an overland conveyor, 1.8m wide and 6.8km long. The concentrator circuit consists of two-train SAG and ball mills, followed by primary and scavenger flotation cells, vertical regrind mills and cleaning flotation cells to produce a copper-gold concentrate grading 32% copper and 19.9g/t gold. Counter-current decantation thickeners are used to dewater the concentrate to a slurry, which is pipelined 17.6km from the plant to the port at Benete. Here it is dewatered further, then stocked in an 80,000t-capacity storage area prior to shipment by sea.
Construction of the mine and its associated infrastructure was completed in 1999, after PTNNT had spent ten years exploring the resource, with commercial production beginning in 2000. The operation continues to be one of Newmont’s lowest cost assets. In 2005, copper sales fell 16.2% to 259,780t (2004= 310,000t) at an applicable cost of $0.53/lb and an average realised price before TRCs of $1.45/lb. However, consolidated gold sales rose to 720,500oz at applicable costs of $152/oz, as compared with 715,000oz in 2004.
Power for the project is supplied by a 120MW coal-fired plant supported by nine diesel generators.
Bata Hijau is a major gold-rich porphyry copper deposit typical of the islands of southeast Asia. These gold-rich porphyries are overwhelmingly hosted by composite stocks of diorite to quartz-diorite and, to a much lesser degree, more felsic compositions such as tonalite and monzogranite. The deposits tend to be characterised by a strong correlation between the distribution of copper sulphides (chalcopyrite and bornite) and gold as the native metal in addition to having a notably higher magnetite content. Gold typically occurs as minute (<10-15 micron) inclusions in the copper sulphides.
As of the end of 2005, Batu Hijau had an ore reserve containing 2.77Mt copper with 0.69g/t gold. At current production rates, mining should continue until 2025.
MINING AND MILLING
Batu Hijau is an open-pit mine. Ore is transported to the primary crushers using P&H 4100 electric mining shovels and a fleet of 220t-capacity Caterpillar 793C mechanical-drive haul trucks. The mine typically handles around 600,000t/d of ore and waste, the ore grading an average 0.49% copper and 0.39g/t gold.
Following primary crushing, the ore is transported to the concentrator by an overland conveyor, 1.8m wide and 6.8km long. The concentrator circuit consists of two-train SAG and ball mills, followed by primary and scavenger flotation cells, vertical regrind mills and cleaning flotation cells to produce a copper-gold concentrate grading 32% copper and 19.9g/t gold. Counter-current decantation thickeners are used to dewater the concentrate to a slurry, which is pipelined 17.6km from the plant to the port at Benete. Here it is dewatered further, then stocked in an 80,000t-capacity storage area prior to shipment by sea.
Bajo de la Alumbrera Copper and Gold Mine, Argentina
The Bajo de la Alumbrera (Alumbrera) copper-gold mine in Argentina, owned and operated by Minera Alumbrera Ltd (MAA), commenced commercial operation in February 1998. The mine is located in Catamarca province, 1,100km north west of Buenos Aires at an altitude of 2,500m.
The Argentine state- and provincially-owned mining company, Yacimientos Mineros de Agua de Dionisio (YMAD), which has the title to the deposit, awarded an international tender for the Alumbrera concession to International Musto Exploration in 1992. Minera Alumbrera was formed in 1994 when MIM Holdings bought a 50% operating interest. During 1995, North Ltd and Rio Algom acquired shares in International Musto and each took a 25% holding in MAA. Pre-production capital expenditure totalled $1.2bn and capital expenditures in the 1998 and 1999 financial years were $198m and $17m respectively. Royalty payments to Catamarca province commenced in 1998. YMAD will start earning 20% of the net proceeds (before tax) once project capital plus interest has been repaid.
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In 2003, three years after Rio Tinto acquired North Ltd and Billiton (now BHP Billiton) bought Rio Algom, the two companies sold their holdings to the Canadian company, Wheaton River Minerals, while MIM was acquired by Xstrata. In 2005 Xstrata opened an office in Chile, initially to manage both Alumbrera and the company's Las Bambas copper project in Peru.
GEOLOGY AND RESERVES
The Bajo de la Alumbrera deposit is a classic copper-gold porphyry. Porphyritic dacite intrudes volcanic andesite, chalcopyrite being the main copper mineral. Near-surface weathered material overlies primary sulphide. In 2003 the mine's reserve base totalled 330Mt proven grading 0.51% copper and 0.59g/t gold plus 42Mt probable grading 0.55% copper and 0.64g/t gold.
However, 2004 drilling led MAA to reoptimise the mine plan based on a new geological model and new cost figures, and this increased contained metal reserves by more than 20%, extending the mine's life to 2015. In mid-2005, reserves were reported to be 360Mt, grading 0.46% copper and 0.51g/t gold, while mineral resources stood at 380Mt (0.47% copper and 0.51g/t gold).
The Argentine state- and provincially-owned mining company, Yacimientos Mineros de Agua de Dionisio (YMAD), which has the title to the deposit, awarded an international tender for the Alumbrera concession to International Musto Exploration in 1992. Minera Alumbrera was formed in 1994 when MIM Holdings bought a 50% operating interest. During 1995, North Ltd and Rio Algom acquired shares in International Musto and each took a 25% holding in MAA. Pre-production capital expenditure totalled $1.2bn and capital expenditures in the 1998 and 1999 financial years were $198m and $17m respectively. Royalty payments to Catamarca province commenced in 1998. YMAD will start earning 20% of the net proceeds (before tax) once project capital plus interest has been repaid.
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In 2003, three years after Rio Tinto acquired North Ltd and Billiton (now BHP Billiton) bought Rio Algom, the two companies sold their holdings to the Canadian company, Wheaton River Minerals, while MIM was acquired by Xstrata. In 2005 Xstrata opened an office in Chile, initially to manage both Alumbrera and the company's Las Bambas copper project in Peru.
GEOLOGY AND RESERVES
The Bajo de la Alumbrera deposit is a classic copper-gold porphyry. Porphyritic dacite intrudes volcanic andesite, chalcopyrite being the main copper mineral. Near-surface weathered material overlies primary sulphide. In 2003 the mine's reserve base totalled 330Mt proven grading 0.51% copper and 0.59g/t gold plus 42Mt probable grading 0.55% copper and 0.64g/t gold.
However, 2004 drilling led MAA to reoptimise the mine plan based on a new geological model and new cost figures, and this increased contained metal reserves by more than 20%, extending the mine's life to 2015. In mid-2005, reserves were reported to be 360Mt, grading 0.46% copper and 0.51g/t gold, while mineral resources stood at 380Mt (0.47% copper and 0.51g/t gold).
Assmang Manganese Mines, South Africa
The Kalahari Manganese Field, located in Northern Cape Province, about 700km southwest of Johannesburg, contains around 80% of the world's known high-grade manganese ore reserves. The district yields about 4Mt/y, mined mainly by Samancor and Assmang.
Originally established in 1935 and now jointly owned and managed by African Rainbow Minerals and Assore, Assmang wholly owns two mines near the community of Black Rock. Assmang commissioned Nchwaning in 1972 while the Gloria mine, to the south, started production in 1978. Each had a plant nominally rated to treat 1Mt/y ore.
Early in 2000, Assmang announced an expansion involving the development of a new shaft complex at Nchwaning to add about 2Mt/y of run-of-mine ore capacity, to make Nchwaning the world’s lowest-cost underground manganese mine, and to extend its lifetime by about 30 years.
The expansion, including additional treatment capacity, was commissioned in May 2004 and was completed in May 2005 at a capitalised cost of R780m. Assmang operates three eight-hour shifts per day from Monday to Friday, as well as a single shift on Saturday, employing a total of 2,510 people at its various operations.
Assmang announced recently a capital expenditure programme of R748m to more than double manganese production by 2010. Assmang mines more than 1.5 million tons of manganese ore from the Nchwaning and Gloria mines in the same region.
The company also produces manganese alloys at its Cato Ridge works in KwaZulu Natal. Assmang currently produces more than 200,000 tons of manganese alloys per year. Recently the company said it would like to build a new manganese alloy plant near the mine.
GEOLOGY AND RESERVES
The Kalahari Manganese Field lies within a large structural basin that extends approximately 40km south to north and 5km to 15km east to west, dipping gently northwest. At Black Rock, near the northern end of the basin, the Transvaal System rocks lie about 300m from surface, beneath Kalahari Formation sands and calcretes, Karroo System tillites and Waterberg System shales and quartzites.
The sub-horizontal stratabound manganese ore horizons occur in banded ironstone of the Voëlwater Formation at the top of a sequence of Transvaal System rocks. As well as being faulted, the horizons are folded.
The ore is massive and averages 48% manganese; at Nchwaning it is particularly low in phosphorus while Gloria has a higher manganese-to-iron ratio. At the end of 2006 Assmang's reserves totalled 192Mt with mineral resources of 428.4Mt.
Originally established in 1935 and now jointly owned and managed by African Rainbow Minerals and Assore, Assmang wholly owns two mines near the community of Black Rock. Assmang commissioned Nchwaning in 1972 while the Gloria mine, to the south, started production in 1978. Each had a plant nominally rated to treat 1Mt/y ore.
Early in 2000, Assmang announced an expansion involving the development of a new shaft complex at Nchwaning to add about 2Mt/y of run-of-mine ore capacity, to make Nchwaning the world’s lowest-cost underground manganese mine, and to extend its lifetime by about 30 years.
The expansion, including additional treatment capacity, was commissioned in May 2004 and was completed in May 2005 at a capitalised cost of R780m. Assmang operates three eight-hour shifts per day from Monday to Friday, as well as a single shift on Saturday, employing a total of 2,510 people at its various operations.
Assmang announced recently a capital expenditure programme of R748m to more than double manganese production by 2010. Assmang mines more than 1.5 million tons of manganese ore from the Nchwaning and Gloria mines in the same region.
The company also produces manganese alloys at its Cato Ridge works in KwaZulu Natal. Assmang currently produces more than 200,000 tons of manganese alloys per year. Recently the company said it would like to build a new manganese alloy plant near the mine.
GEOLOGY AND RESERVES
The Kalahari Manganese Field lies within a large structural basin that extends approximately 40km south to north and 5km to 15km east to west, dipping gently northwest. At Black Rock, near the northern end of the basin, the Transvaal System rocks lie about 300m from surface, beneath Kalahari Formation sands and calcretes, Karroo System tillites and Waterberg System shales and quartzites.
The sub-horizontal stratabound manganese ore horizons occur in banded ironstone of the Voëlwater Formation at the top of a sequence of Transvaal System rocks. As well as being faulted, the horizons are folded.
The ore is massive and averages 48% manganese; at Nchwaning it is particularly low in phosphorus while Gloria has a higher manganese-to-iron ratio. At the end of 2006 Assmang's reserves totalled 192Mt with mineral resources of 428.4Mt.
Alegria Iron Ore Mine, Brazil
Samarco Mineracão's Alegria iron ore mine is in Brazil's Iron Quadrangle, about 4.5km north of the depleted Germano deposit, within the districts of Mariana and Ouro Preto in the state of Minas Gerais. The process plant pumps concentrate via a slurry pipeline to facilities at Ponta Ubu on the Atlantic coast that include two pelletising plants and a shipping quay.
BHP Billiton and CVRD each has a 50% holding in Samarco. Production commenced at Alegria in 1992. The operation employed 1,336 people directly and more than 2,000 via contractors in 2005.
The company is implementing an optimisation project to increase concentrator and pelletisation capacity in the short term, and is also investing in a new concentrator and pelletisation plant, which started up in the first half of 2008. This is expected to make Samarco the world's second-largest exporter of iron-ore pellets.
GEOLOGY AND RESERVES
The deposit consists of low-grade itabiritic ore. Alegria's certified mineral reserves totalled 720Mt in 2005, sufficient to support mining for 20 years after the new concentrator comes on stream. Further exploration has the potential to raise reserves to more than 1,000Mt.
MINING
Itabiritic ore is excavated by bulldozers, loaded by front-end loaders into 177t-capacity trucks and taken to a crushing and screening plant in the blending yard. The ore is blended and stored before transport by belt conveyors to the surge pile.
An overland conveyor system transports the ore over a distance of 4km to the beneficiation plant at Germano.
GERMANO BENEFICIATION PLANT
At the Germano beneficiation plant the ore is screened, crushed and classified to feed the primary mills. This circuit assures sufficient reduction of the iron ore particles. It is then deslimed, deslimed, with the ultrafine material being removed in cluster cyclones before conventional flotation where waste material such as silica is separated from the iron particles. The ore is reground and enters a column flotation circuit.The addition of a roller press in 2004 improved productivity by 7%. The resulting concentrate is slurried with water for pipeline transport.
The concentrator is capable of an annual production of 15.5Mt of iron-ore concentrates, rising to 16.5Mt/y in 2006. Its output in the 2005 financial year was 15.1Mt, of which 13.1Mt came from Alegria ore and 2Mt from CVRD ore.
BHP Billiton and CVRD each has a 50% holding in Samarco. Production commenced at Alegria in 1992. The operation employed 1,336 people directly and more than 2,000 via contractors in 2005.
The company is implementing an optimisation project to increase concentrator and pelletisation capacity in the short term, and is also investing in a new concentrator and pelletisation plant, which started up in the first half of 2008. This is expected to make Samarco the world's second-largest exporter of iron-ore pellets.
GEOLOGY AND RESERVES
The deposit consists of low-grade itabiritic ore. Alegria's certified mineral reserves totalled 720Mt in 2005, sufficient to support mining for 20 years after the new concentrator comes on stream. Further exploration has the potential to raise reserves to more than 1,000Mt.
MINING
Itabiritic ore is excavated by bulldozers, loaded by front-end loaders into 177t-capacity trucks and taken to a crushing and screening plant in the blending yard. The ore is blended and stored before transport by belt conveyors to the surge pile.
An overland conveyor system transports the ore over a distance of 4km to the beneficiation plant at Germano.
GERMANO BENEFICIATION PLANT
At the Germano beneficiation plant the ore is screened, crushed and classified to feed the primary mills. This circuit assures sufficient reduction of the iron ore particles. It is then deslimed, deslimed, with the ultrafine material being removed in cluster cyclones before conventional flotation where waste material such as silica is separated from the iron particles. The ore is reground and enters a column flotation circuit.The addition of a roller press in 2004 improved productivity by 7%. The resulting concentrate is slurried with water for pipeline transport.
The concentrator is capable of an annual production of 15.5Mt of iron-ore concentrates, rising to 16.5Mt/y in 2006. Its output in the 2005 financial year was 15.1Mt, of which 13.1Mt came from Alegria ore and 2Mt from CVRD ore.
Aitik Copper Mine, Sweden
Located near Gällivare, northern Sweden, the low-grade Aitik copper deposit was discovered in the early 1930s. Bulk-mining technology made exploitation feasible in the 1960s and mining at Europe’s first large, low-grade open pit copper mine started in 1968 at a production rate of 2Mt/y of ore. Since then, a series of pushbacks have increased output to approximately 19Mt/y. The concentrator, expanded in parallel, ships over 200,000t/y to the Ronnskär smelter.
Since the consolidation of Outokumpu’s copper and zinc mining and smelting activities into New Boliden in January 2004, Aitik has been wholly owned by Boliden.
Boliden approved the investment of Skr5.2bn ($790m) for the expansion of the operations (Aitik 36) which will see significant increases in capacity and production.
Boliden says that the expansion will result in one of the world’s most efficient mines becoming even more efficient. On average, ore is mined at the rate of 1t/manhour. Boliden says that production at Aitik is now at 43t/manhour but will increase to 55t/manhour.
The company said recently it also expected life of mine cash costs to fall from $0.80/lb to $0.43/lb.
All this extends the mine life from 2016 to 2025, while increasing copper, gold and silver production and adding new production of molybdenum. By lowering costs, ore reserves have been tripled.
The mine currently employs 430 people, of which 280 are in the mine. This number is expected to increase significantly in line with the expansion.
Since the consolidation of Outokumpu’s copper and zinc mining and smelting activities into New Boliden in January 2004, Aitik has been wholly owned by Boliden.
Boliden approved the investment of Skr5.2bn ($790m) for the expansion of the operations (Aitik 36) which will see significant increases in capacity and production.
Boliden says that the expansion will result in one of the world’s most efficient mines becoming even more efficient. On average, ore is mined at the rate of 1t/manhour. Boliden says that production at Aitik is now at 43t/manhour but will increase to 55t/manhour.
The company said recently it also expected life of mine cash costs to fall from $0.80/lb to $0.43/lb.
All this extends the mine life from 2016 to 2025, while increasing copper, gold and silver production and adding new production of molybdenum. By lowering costs, ore reserves have been tripled.
The mine currently employs 430 people, of which 280 are in the mine. This number is expected to increase significantly in line with the expansion.
Summit Matsu Joins Thrill Ride at Dreamworld
Summit Matsu Chilling Systems has supplied the Dreamworld Resort on the Gold Coast with the chiller needed to run their newest attraction, the Mick Doohan Motocoaster.
The Mick Doohan Motocoaster is one of Dreamworld's most popular extreme thrill rides at the resort. With riders held in by a unique restraint system of life-sized replicas of 500cc racing bikes, the rollercoaster attracts hundreds of patrons on a daily basis. With a 605m track, 18 extreme turns and a maximum speed of 72km⁄h, the ride places high demand on its hydraulic system. The chiller, which Summit Matsu provided, is used to cool the hydraulic oil in the system that drives the rollercoaster. Bob Tan, from the resort, said: "It's essential, otherwise the oil gets too hot and the ride can't operate."
The reliability of the chiller was of paramount importance when Dreamworld was selecting a manufacturer. Without the ability to keep the hydraulic oil cool, the ride would not be able to operate consistently, which would significantly affect the park's revenue and credibility. Summit Matsu manufactures all its chillers out of Sydney, Australia, and uses only the best-quality parts.
The technical expertise that comes with the manufacturing process means Summit Matsu is able to design specific solutions for customer problems. With more than 40 years' experience in the industry, it provides the most reliable equipment on the market.
Mr Tan said the competitive offer that Summit Matsu made was bolstered by the fact the company was Australian. He said: "It's much easier to talk to a company based in Australia, not only because of the language but also the time zone makes getting in contact much faster."
The Mick Doohan Motocoaster is one of Dreamworld's most popular extreme thrill rides at the resort. With riders held in by a unique restraint system of life-sized replicas of 500cc racing bikes, the rollercoaster attracts hundreds of patrons on a daily basis. With a 605m track, 18 extreme turns and a maximum speed of 72km⁄h, the ride places high demand on its hydraulic system. The chiller, which Summit Matsu provided, is used to cool the hydraulic oil in the system that drives the rollercoaster. Bob Tan, from the resort, said: "It's essential, otherwise the oil gets too hot and the ride can't operate."
The reliability of the chiller was of paramount importance when Dreamworld was selecting a manufacturer. Without the ability to keep the hydraulic oil cool, the ride would not be able to operate consistently, which would significantly affect the park's revenue and credibility. Summit Matsu manufactures all its chillers out of Sydney, Australia, and uses only the best-quality parts.
The technical expertise that comes with the manufacturing process means Summit Matsu is able to design specific solutions for customer problems. With more than 40 years' experience in the industry, it provides the most reliable equipment on the market.
Mr Tan said the competitive offer that Summit Matsu made was bolstered by the fact the company was Australian. He said: "It's much easier to talk to a company based in Australia, not only because of the language but also the time zone makes getting in contact much faster."
Verder Can Stop Your Business Losing Thousands
Not all companies go out of their way to find the best solution for a pumping problem. Verder Pumps SA (VPSA) director Keith Gass said: "At VPSA, we know all pump types have advantages and may bear some shortcomings, depending on the type of application it is specified for."
Some companies, when faced with a limited capacity of pump technology and/or products, often make the pump "fit" the client's needs without ensuring the product is the best solution for the application.
In addition, clients are looking to buy down in the present economic situation, but often overlook the additional costs of energy consumption, loss of production due to downtime and maintenance. Life-cycle costing is extremely important to retain current as well as long-term profitability.
Mr Gass said: "Upgrading to more productive pumps can be perceived to be too expensive for many operations to undertake. However, there are times when it is necessary. For instance, if your plant is unproductive due to no spare parts stock availability, downtime costs outweighs your production intake, high energy consumption, or in some instances where maintenance bills are high often exceeding the new pump's initial purchase price. Changing or upgrading can be avoided by correctly specifying the right pumps for any given application in the first place."
Mr Gass said many clients were reluctant to change pumps because they were not made aware of all the technology available. "More often than not, saying 'because we have always used these pumps' does not mean the pumps are ideally suited to the application," he said.
"The need for more knowledge, maintenance issues and technical knowledge of other pump technologies are the main reasons behind clients' aversion to change. Once again, they could be wasting thousands of rands on production and downtime and/or maintenance."
The difference is that VPSA does care about your process. 'Solutions in pumping technology' are indeed what we strive for at VPSA. We know that the safe, reliable and productive handling of pumping mediums are the most important factors in the processes industry. This includes the processes in the mining and chemical industries, in food or even in pharmaceutical processes.
Handling liquids requires knowledge of processes and sometimes even empirical research and testing of the fluid. Our passionate sales engineers ensure they source the best possible solution to suit the application, providing customers with the best products, solutions and support available.
VPSA offers consultations to discuss pumping difficulties. It is the aim of VPSA to ensure the most-suited pump is selected for the right application, which sets the company apart from the other players in the market.
Mr Gass said: "At VPSA, we are determined to provide the most efficient and cost-effective solutions. Our impressive range includes peristaltic hose pumps, air-diaphragm pumps, magnetic drive centrifugal pumps, progressive cavity screw pumps and reciprocating diaphragm pumps."
Verder combines product knowledge with extensive experience in the field of sales and marketing. Clients therefore receive not only products of high quality, but also quick delivery times, competitive prices, excellent service and clarity regarding liability.
Some companies, when faced with a limited capacity of pump technology and/or products, often make the pump "fit" the client's needs without ensuring the product is the best solution for the application.
In addition, clients are looking to buy down in the present economic situation, but often overlook the additional costs of energy consumption, loss of production due to downtime and maintenance. Life-cycle costing is extremely important to retain current as well as long-term profitability.
Mr Gass said: "Upgrading to more productive pumps can be perceived to be too expensive for many operations to undertake. However, there are times when it is necessary. For instance, if your plant is unproductive due to no spare parts stock availability, downtime costs outweighs your production intake, high energy consumption, or in some instances where maintenance bills are high often exceeding the new pump's initial purchase price. Changing or upgrading can be avoided by correctly specifying the right pumps for any given application in the first place."
Mr Gass said many clients were reluctant to change pumps because they were not made aware of all the technology available. "More often than not, saying 'because we have always used these pumps' does not mean the pumps are ideally suited to the application," he said.
"The need for more knowledge, maintenance issues and technical knowledge of other pump technologies are the main reasons behind clients' aversion to change. Once again, they could be wasting thousands of rands on production and downtime and/or maintenance."
The difference is that VPSA does care about your process. 'Solutions in pumping technology' are indeed what we strive for at VPSA. We know that the safe, reliable and productive handling of pumping mediums are the most important factors in the processes industry. This includes the processes in the mining and chemical industries, in food or even in pharmaceutical processes.
Handling liquids requires knowledge of processes and sometimes even empirical research and testing of the fluid. Our passionate sales engineers ensure they source the best possible solution to suit the application, providing customers with the best products, solutions and support available.
VPSA offers consultations to discuss pumping difficulties. It is the aim of VPSA to ensure the most-suited pump is selected for the right application, which sets the company apart from the other players in the market.
Mr Gass said: "At VPSA, we are determined to provide the most efficient and cost-effective solutions. Our impressive range includes peristaltic hose pumps, air-diaphragm pumps, magnetic drive centrifugal pumps, progressive cavity screw pumps and reciprocating diaphragm pumps."
Verder combines product knowledge with extensive experience in the field of sales and marketing. Clients therefore receive not only products of high quality, but also quick delivery times, competitive prices, excellent service and clarity regarding liability.
Verder Goes for Gold
As the Verder Group celebrates its 50th anniversary, the South African operation is also celebrating more than 50 VF125 pumps sold since the company was established in 2002.
Verder Pumps SA (VPSA), part of the International Verder Group, provides first-class solutions as part of the liquids handling division to all industrial processes across South Africa and sub-Saharan Africa.
VPSA director Keith Gass said: "It is the global approach to innovation that is key to our success. The group's commitment to continuous innovation leads to providing efficient and cost-effective business solutions to seamlessly fit our customer needs.
"Solutions in pumping technology are indeed what we strive for at VPSA. We know the safe handling of liquids is one of the most important processes in the industry. This includes the processes in the mining and chemical industries, in food or even in pharmaceutical processes.
"Handling liquids requires knowledge of processes and sometimes even empirical research and testing of the fluid. Our passionate sales engineers ensure they source the best possible solution to suit the application, providing customers with the best products, solutions and support available."
It is the aim of VPSA to ensure that the most-suited pump is selected for the right application, which sets the company apart from the other players. As energy efficiency and lower operating costs dominate the agenda during the current global economic downturn, VPSA remains determined to provide the most efficient and cost-effective solutions.
VPSA supplies a range of competitive Verderair air-operated diaphragm pumps that has exploded on to the market place, as has the Verdermag mag-drive centrifugal pump range, which has been successful in the mining and chemical markets due to its guaranteed leak-free design features.
Mr Gass said: "Our notorious Verderflex peristaltic hose pump range continues to grow in popularity, in particular our largest peristaltic hose pump – Verderflex VF125 – that has set yet another record at VPSA. A total of 52 VF125 pumps have been sold from the South African operation, the most sold in the entire Verder Group.
Verder Pumps SA (VPSA), part of the International Verder Group, provides first-class solutions as part of the liquids handling division to all industrial processes across South Africa and sub-Saharan Africa.
VPSA director Keith Gass said: "It is the global approach to innovation that is key to our success. The group's commitment to continuous innovation leads to providing efficient and cost-effective business solutions to seamlessly fit our customer needs.
"Solutions in pumping technology are indeed what we strive for at VPSA. We know the safe handling of liquids is one of the most important processes in the industry. This includes the processes in the mining and chemical industries, in food or even in pharmaceutical processes.
"Handling liquids requires knowledge of processes and sometimes even empirical research and testing of the fluid. Our passionate sales engineers ensure they source the best possible solution to suit the application, providing customers with the best products, solutions and support available."
It is the aim of VPSA to ensure that the most-suited pump is selected for the right application, which sets the company apart from the other players. As energy efficiency and lower operating costs dominate the agenda during the current global economic downturn, VPSA remains determined to provide the most efficient and cost-effective solutions.
VPSA supplies a range of competitive Verderair air-operated diaphragm pumps that has exploded on to the market place, as has the Verdermag mag-drive centrifugal pump range, which has been successful in the mining and chemical markets due to its guaranteed leak-free design features.
Mr Gass said: "Our notorious Verderflex peristaltic hose pump range continues to grow in popularity, in particular our largest peristaltic hose pump – Verderflex VF125 – that has set yet another record at VPSA. A total of 52 VF125 pumps have been sold from the South African operation, the most sold in the entire Verder Group.
Introducing Shanghai Zenith's Jaw Crusher PE600x900
Shanghai Zenith's jaw crusher series includes 14 models, which can meet most crushing requirements in primary and secondary crushing.
The Jaw Crusher PE600x900 is the line's main product and is employed in a range of areas. It is widely used in the mining, metallurgical, construction, smelting, hydraulic and chemical industries.
The jaw crusher reduces large rocks or ore by compressing them. A fixed jaw mounted in a "V" alignment is the stationary breaking surface, while the moveable jaw plate exerts force on the rock by compressing it against the fixed jaw plate. The space at bottom of the V-aligned jaw plate is the output size gap, or the maximum size of the crushed product.
Jaw crusher PE600x900 technical data:
Feed opening 600mmx900mm
Max feeding size 480mm
Adjustment of range discharging opening 65mmx160mm
Capacity 90t to 180t
Power 55kw to 75kw
Weight 17t
Overall dimension 2290mmx2206mmx2370mm
The Jaw Crusher PE600x900 is the line's main product and is employed in a range of areas. It is widely used in the mining, metallurgical, construction, smelting, hydraulic and chemical industries.
The jaw crusher reduces large rocks or ore by compressing them. A fixed jaw mounted in a "V" alignment is the stationary breaking surface, while the moveable jaw plate exerts force on the rock by compressing it against the fixed jaw plate. The space at bottom of the V-aligned jaw plate is the output size gap, or the maximum size of the crushed product.
Jaw crusher PE600x900 technical data:
Feed opening 600mmx900mm
Max feeding size 480mm
Adjustment of range discharging opening 65mmx160mm
Capacity 90t to 180t
Power 55kw to 75kw
Weight 17t
Overall dimension 2290mmx2206mmx2370mm
Cidra Trial Is Success in the World’s Largest Copper Mining Company
CiDRA Minerals Processing announced the successful completion of a trial done in two mine sites of Codelco-Chile, the world’s largest copper mining company. The trial was conducted by Kairos Mining, a joint venture between Codelco and Honeywell, who chose the CiDRA's SONARtrac flow monitoring system for a challenging slurry flow application at Codelco's Andina and Norte mines.
Codelco is the world's largest copper producer, with production of 1.8 million tons of fine copper per year (about 15% of the world's production). The joint venture with Honeywell, named Kairos Mining, will help Codelco improve plant process stability and business performance.
CiDRA SONARtrac systems were chosen by Kairos Mining because of their non-invasive design, which provides exceptionally high reliability, performance and maintenance-free operation, thus lowering operating costs and total cost of ownership. The SONARtrac systems keep demonstrating their features and advantages for months in the real mine site conditions of both the Chilean Andes Mountains and the desert. TIAR Ltda., CiDRA's exclusive representative in Chile, is providing in-country support in addition to the support provided by CiDRA's headquarters in the United States.
CiDRA's SONARtrac flow technology is a new class of industrial flow meter, utilising measurement principles that are distinct from all other flow meter technologies operating in the mining industry. SONARtrac non-intrusive flow monitoring systems do not make contact with the slurry and can be removed and reinstalled when it is necessary to replace the pipe. SONARtrac systems also demonstrate a very stable output in the presence of a variety of ores and demonstrate superior levels of performance. This passive, sonar-based technology enables measurements of single phase and multiphase fluids, as well as slurries, with the same level of accuracy and performance.
Codelco is the world's largest copper producer, with production of 1.8 million tons of fine copper per year (about 15% of the world's production). The joint venture with Honeywell, named Kairos Mining, will help Codelco improve plant process stability and business performance.
CiDRA SONARtrac systems were chosen by Kairos Mining because of their non-invasive design, which provides exceptionally high reliability, performance and maintenance-free operation, thus lowering operating costs and total cost of ownership. The SONARtrac systems keep demonstrating their features and advantages for months in the real mine site conditions of both the Chilean Andes Mountains and the desert. TIAR Ltda., CiDRA's exclusive representative in Chile, is providing in-country support in addition to the support provided by CiDRA's headquarters in the United States.
CiDRA's SONARtrac flow technology is a new class of industrial flow meter, utilising measurement principles that are distinct from all other flow meter technologies operating in the mining industry. SONARtrac non-intrusive flow monitoring systems do not make contact with the slurry and can be removed and reinstalled when it is necessary to replace the pipe. SONARtrac systems also demonstrate a very stable output in the presence of a variety of ores and demonstrate superior levels of performance. This passive, sonar-based technology enables measurements of single phase and multiphase fluids, as well as slurries, with the same level of accuracy and performance.
Sunday, May 10, 2009
How Shanghai Zenith's Vertical Shaft Impact Crusher Works
Shanghai Zenith's vertical shaft impact crusher, also known as a sand-making machine and rubble-shaping machine, is a kind of crusher impacted by the materials themselves. It is of high energy but low consumption and of an internationally advanced level, having been developed by introducing outstanding foreign technology into the product. It is the most advanced and practical equipment for medium-sized and fine crushing and shaping available.
It is widely used for the fine crushing and rough grinding of metal, minerals, building aggregate, concrete, anti-fire materials, glass raw materials, manufactured sand and all kinds of metallurgical slug. It can also be used for shaping high-rank road surfaces. Compared with other kinds of crusher, it is more advanced for crushing intermediate hard, extra hard and abrasive material, such as gravel, quartz, sandstone, basalt, silicon carbide, diamond grain and sintered bauxite.
How the vertical shaft impact crusher operates
The stuffs, which fall into the high-speed rotating impeller from the upper level of the machine, are stroked with other stuffs, which move around the impeller through high-speed centrifugal force. After they strike, whirling fluid is produced between the impeller and outer covering. Through repeatedly striking and rubbing the stuffs are crushed into pieces and come out of the lower section. The operating process circulates repeatedly and achieves the fineness of the product.
It is widely used for the fine crushing and rough grinding of metal, minerals, building aggregate, concrete, anti-fire materials, glass raw materials, manufactured sand and all kinds of metallurgical slug. It can also be used for shaping high-rank road surfaces. Compared with other kinds of crusher, it is more advanced for crushing intermediate hard, extra hard and abrasive material, such as gravel, quartz, sandstone, basalt, silicon carbide, diamond grain and sintered bauxite.
How the vertical shaft impact crusher operates
The stuffs, which fall into the high-speed rotating impeller from the upper level of the machine, are stroked with other stuffs, which move around the impeller through high-speed centrifugal force. After they strike, whirling fluid is produced between the impeller and outer covering. Through repeatedly striking and rubbing the stuffs are crushed into pieces and come out of the lower section. The operating process circulates repeatedly and achieves the fineness of the product.
Verder Goes for Gold
As the Verder Group celebrates its 50th anniversary, the South African operation is also celebrating more than 50 VF125 pumps sold since the company was established in 2002.
Verder Pumps SA (VPSA), part of the International Verder Group, provides first-class solutions as part of the liquids handling division to all industrial processes across South Africa and sub-Saharan Africa.
VPSA director Keith Gass said: "It is the global approach to innovation that is key to our success. The group's commitment to continuous innovation leads to providing efficient and cost-effective business solutions to seamlessly fit our customer needs.
"Solutions in pumping technology are indeed what we strive for at VPSA. We know the safe handling of liquids is one of the most important processes in the industry. This includes the processes in the mining and chemical industries, in food or even in pharmaceutical processes.
"Handling liquids requires knowledge of processes and sometimes even empirical research and testing of the fluid. Our passionate sales engineers ensure they source the best possible solution to suit the application, providing customers with the best products, solutions and support available."
It is the aim of VPSA to ensure that the most-suited pump is selected for the right application, which sets the company apart from the other players. As energy efficiency and lower operating costs dominate the agenda during the current global economic downturn, VPSA remains determined to provide the most efficient and cost-effective solutions.
VPSA supplies a range of competitive Verderair air-operated diaphragm pumps that has exploded on to the market place, as has the Verdermag mag-drive centrifugal pump range, which has been successful in the mining and chemical markets due to its guaranteed leak-free design features.
Mr Gass said: "Our notorious Verderflex peristaltic hose pump range continues to grow in popularity, in particular our largest peristaltic hose pump – Verderflex VF125 – that has set yet another record at VPSA. A total of 52 VF125 pumps have been sold from the South African operation, the most sold in the entire Verder Group.
"The latest order for six VF125s was received for the Waterval Concentrator Retrofit plant in Rustenburg for the pump's heaviest duty to date. The pumps are being installed at the thickener underflows pumping platinum slurry with SGs between 1.8 and two, and flows ranging from 30m3/h to 50m3/h. Some 12 VF125s are already working at Waterval Smelter and the latest order brings the number of pumps to 18, with an extra pump as a spare, at the plant.
Verder Pumps SA (VPSA), part of the International Verder Group, provides first-class solutions as part of the liquids handling division to all industrial processes across South Africa and sub-Saharan Africa.
VPSA director Keith Gass said: "It is the global approach to innovation that is key to our success. The group's commitment to continuous innovation leads to providing efficient and cost-effective business solutions to seamlessly fit our customer needs.
"Solutions in pumping technology are indeed what we strive for at VPSA. We know the safe handling of liquids is one of the most important processes in the industry. This includes the processes in the mining and chemical industries, in food or even in pharmaceutical processes.
"Handling liquids requires knowledge of processes and sometimes even empirical research and testing of the fluid. Our passionate sales engineers ensure they source the best possible solution to suit the application, providing customers with the best products, solutions and support available."
It is the aim of VPSA to ensure that the most-suited pump is selected for the right application, which sets the company apart from the other players. As energy efficiency and lower operating costs dominate the agenda during the current global economic downturn, VPSA remains determined to provide the most efficient and cost-effective solutions.
VPSA supplies a range of competitive Verderair air-operated diaphragm pumps that has exploded on to the market place, as has the Verdermag mag-drive centrifugal pump range, which has been successful in the mining and chemical markets due to its guaranteed leak-free design features.
Mr Gass said: "Our notorious Verderflex peristaltic hose pump range continues to grow in popularity, in particular our largest peristaltic hose pump – Verderflex VF125 – that has set yet another record at VPSA. A total of 52 VF125 pumps have been sold from the South African operation, the most sold in the entire Verder Group.
"The latest order for six VF125s was received for the Waterval Concentrator Retrofit plant in Rustenburg for the pump's heaviest duty to date. The pumps are being installed at the thickener underflows pumping platinum slurry with SGs between 1.8 and two, and flows ranging from 30m3/h to 50m3/h. Some 12 VF125s are already working at Waterval Smelter and the latest order brings the number of pumps to 18, with an extra pump as a spare, at the plant.
OZ CEO Michelmore to Resign
OZ Minerals chief executive Andrew Michelmore will resign as soon as a sale of most of the Australia mining house's assets to China's Minmetals is completed, the company said on Tuesday.
Michelmore, the architect behind the A$1.2bn ($883m) transaction, due to be completed later this year and aimed at saving OZ from liquidation by its creditors, will take up an executive position with Minmetals, the company also said.
Michelmore, the architect behind the A$1.2bn ($883m) transaction, due to be completed later this year and aimed at saving OZ from liquidation by its creditors, will take up an executive position with Minmetals, the company also said.
Newmont's Indonesia Unit Clears Way for Share Sale
Newmont Mining's Indonesian unit said one of the main obstacles to a share sale has been resolved, paving the way for a dispute with the government to be settled as set out by an arbitration court.
Indonesia had said that Newmont could not sell a stake in its PT Newmont Nusa Tenggara (NNT) unit, which operates the Batu Hijau copper and gold mine in Sumbawa, because the shares were pledged as collateral for a $1bn loan.
Rubi Purnomo, Newmont spokesman in Indonesia, said Newmont's lenders have agreed to release the 31% stake in NNT as collateral. The company has repaid about $650m-$700m of the loan.
"We hope this confirmation (from lenders) will allow us to transfer the required shares free of any obligation within the 180-day period provided by the arbitration panel," Purnomo said, adding that the unit still needs to repay $300m-$350m of the loan.
Last month, an arbitration court ordered the foreign owners of NNT to sell part of their stake to the government within six months, after a long-running dispute.
Under the contract of works, foreign investors must sell 51% of the shares in the unit to local investors.
PT Pukuafu Indah, an Indonesian mining group, bought 20%. Newmont and Japan's Sumitomo own 45% and 35% respectively.
The arbitration court also ruled that the shares must not be encumbered by any pledge.
A resolution on the case is seen by analysts as crucial for Indonesia which, is keen to attract foreign investment to drive economic growth and create jobs.
The shares in NNT were pledged to a group of banks including the Export-Import Bank of Japan in 1997 as collateral.
Newmont began offering its NNT shares for sale in 2006, initially offering a 3% stake for $109m. The following year it offered a 7% stake worth $282m and another 7% stake worth $426m in 2008.
Newmont has valued the whole of NNT at $4.9bn and has started negotiations with the government over the price.
Indonesia had said that Newmont could not sell a stake in its PT Newmont Nusa Tenggara (NNT) unit, which operates the Batu Hijau copper and gold mine in Sumbawa, because the shares were pledged as collateral for a $1bn loan.
Rubi Purnomo, Newmont spokesman in Indonesia, said Newmont's lenders have agreed to release the 31% stake in NNT as collateral. The company has repaid about $650m-$700m of the loan.
"We hope this confirmation (from lenders) will allow us to transfer the required shares free of any obligation within the 180-day period provided by the arbitration panel," Purnomo said, adding that the unit still needs to repay $300m-$350m of the loan.
Last month, an arbitration court ordered the foreign owners of NNT to sell part of their stake to the government within six months, after a long-running dispute.
Under the contract of works, foreign investors must sell 51% of the shares in the unit to local investors.
PT Pukuafu Indah, an Indonesian mining group, bought 20%. Newmont and Japan's Sumitomo own 45% and 35% respectively.
The arbitration court also ruled that the shares must not be encumbered by any pledge.
A resolution on the case is seen by analysts as crucial for Indonesia which, is keen to attract foreign investment to drive economic growth and create jobs.
The shares in NNT were pledged to a group of banks including the Export-Import Bank of Japan in 1997 as collateral.
Newmont began offering its NNT shares for sale in 2006, initially offering a 3% stake for $109m. The following year it offered a 7% stake worth $282m and another 7% stake worth $426m in 2008.
Newmont has valued the whole of NNT at $4.9bn and has started negotiations with the government over the price.
Russia Polymetal Cuts Loss in 2008
Russian gold and silver miner Polymetal said on Wednesday it cut its net loss last year to $15.7m from 2007's $22.8m, in spite of the economic crisis.
"Financial results for 2008 demonstrate excellent fundamentals of our business in the face of the global financial crisis," Vitaly Nesis, CEO of Polymetal, said in a statement.
"Significant improvement in operating profitability and competitive cost position will definitely allow us to proceed with the aggressive expansion programme and capitalise on the re-emergence of gold as the safe-haven investment of choice."
Earnings before interest, taxation, amortisation and depreciation (EBITDA) rose by 161% to $192.6m, the statement said. Revenues rose by 63% to $502.7m.
Revenues rose due to an increase in gold and silver sales and a rise in the realised metal prices, Polymetal said.
Polymetal produced 285,000oz of gold in 2008, which is equal to some 5% of total Russian output, and 17.2 million ounces of silver.
The company's net debt stood at $312.3m at the end of 2008, up 41% from a year earlier.
"Financial results for 2008 demonstrate excellent fundamentals of our business in the face of the global financial crisis," Vitaly Nesis, CEO of Polymetal, said in a statement.
"Significant improvement in operating profitability and competitive cost position will definitely allow us to proceed with the aggressive expansion programme and capitalise on the re-emergence of gold as the safe-haven investment of choice."
Earnings before interest, taxation, amortisation and depreciation (EBITDA) rose by 161% to $192.6m, the statement said. Revenues rose by 63% to $502.7m.
Revenues rose due to an increase in gold and silver sales and a rise in the realised metal prices, Polymetal said.
Polymetal produced 285,000oz of gold in 2008, which is equal to some 5% of total Russian output, and 17.2 million ounces of silver.
The company's net debt stood at $312.3m at the end of 2008, up 41% from a year earlier.
HudBay Minerals Posts First-Quarter Loss
HudBay Minerals fell to a loss in the first quarter, as its results were hit by plunging prices for copper and zinc.
The company, which abandoned its attempt to buy Lundin Mining during the quarter and is now seen as a takeover target itself, posted a loss of C$4m, or 3 Canadian cents per basic share, in the three months ended 31 March.
That compared with a profit of C$21.6m, or 17 Canadian cents per basic share, in the year-before period.
Analysts polled by Reuters had expected, on average, a loss of 2 Canadian cents a share.
HudBay said its results were hit hard by base metal prices that plunged as the global recession dried up demand. However, prices have been on an upswing since early March.
Revenue fell more than 40% to C$161.8m.
HudBay launched a friendly bid for Lundin last November, but ran into resistance from its own shareholder over concerns about Lundin's shakier balance sheet and a massive share issue that would have been used to fund the transaction.
HudBay abandoned the bid, and chief executive Allen Palmiere and the board stepped down.
Former CEO Peter Jones is now back running the company.
Last month, HudBay said it had hired an investment bank to examine its strategic options, which could include selling the company.
Meanwhile, Indian mining giant Vedanta Resources has bought a 9.5% stake in the Canadian company, sparking speculation about a takeover and driving HudBay's shares higher.
The company, which abandoned its attempt to buy Lundin Mining during the quarter and is now seen as a takeover target itself, posted a loss of C$4m, or 3 Canadian cents per basic share, in the three months ended 31 March.
That compared with a profit of C$21.6m, or 17 Canadian cents per basic share, in the year-before period.
Analysts polled by Reuters had expected, on average, a loss of 2 Canadian cents a share.
HudBay said its results were hit hard by base metal prices that plunged as the global recession dried up demand. However, prices have been on an upswing since early March.
Revenue fell more than 40% to C$161.8m.
HudBay launched a friendly bid for Lundin last November, but ran into resistance from its own shareholder over concerns about Lundin's shakier balance sheet and a massive share issue that would have been used to fund the transaction.
HudBay abandoned the bid, and chief executive Allen Palmiere and the board stepped down.
Former CEO Peter Jones is now back running the company.
Last month, HudBay said it had hired an investment bank to examine its strategic options, which could include selling the company.
Meanwhile, Indian mining giant Vedanta Resources has bought a 9.5% stake in the Canadian company, sparking speculation about a takeover and driving HudBay's shares higher.
Zimbabwe Gold Output Plunges
Zimbabwe's gold output plunged 76% during the first four months of 2009 after most miners shut their operations last year at the height of a political crisis, a senior industry official told Reuters on Tuesday.
Gold producers are now re-starting production after new rules allowed them to sell gold directly to the world markets but uncertainty over ownership laws is likely to keep big mining houses away from exploring the country's rich mineral deposits.
Chamber of Mines president, David Murangari, said the entire mining sector was struggling due to lack of capital to re-start and increase production.
"The major challenge to the mining sector at the moment is financing needed to resume production as well as re-start exploration and development of new deposits. This is particularly so for gold mines," Murangari said in an email in response to questions from Reuters.
Murangari said gold output between January and April this year stood at 335kg, down from 1,407kg during the same period in 2008.
Gold production for the whole of last year hit a record low of 3,072kg from 6,798kg in 2007. At its peak, Zimbabwe produced an average of 2,400kg of gold a month.
Gold contributes one-third to Zimbabwe's dwindling export earnings since the collapse of commercial agriculture after President Robert Mugabe's government started in 2000 forcibly taking land from white farmers to resettle blacks.
Miners have since 2002 struggled with a political and economic crisis and foreign currency shortages, forcing mines to shut down while skilled labour flocked to neighbouring South Africa and as far as Australia.
But gold producers now want to re-open their mines after Zimbabwe's central bank in February relinquished its role as sales agent for gold, allowing firms for the first time to sell the metal and keep all the proceeds.
The country's biggest gold producer, Metallon Gold, London-listed Mwana Africa and Canada's New Dawn Mining Corp, have plans to re-open their mines within months.
Formed in February, Zimbabwe's new unity government of Mugabe and his main political rival Morgan Tsvangirai ended a long period of uncertainty and this has buoyed investor interest in mining, Murangari said.
"There are several enquiries from new investors interested in investing in the mining sector. This is more so after the formation of the inclusive government," he said.
"The formation of the inclusive government should help encourage investment in the mining sector as this builds confidence in the future stability of the country."
But existing gold miners are still owed millions by the government for their past gold deliveries, Murangari said.
"A final decision (on this issue) is needed from government to assure investors who are appearing hesitant to put new money to resuscitate the gold sector," he said.
Gold producers are now re-starting production after new rules allowed them to sell gold directly to the world markets but uncertainty over ownership laws is likely to keep big mining houses away from exploring the country's rich mineral deposits.
Chamber of Mines president, David Murangari, said the entire mining sector was struggling due to lack of capital to re-start and increase production.
"The major challenge to the mining sector at the moment is financing needed to resume production as well as re-start exploration and development of new deposits. This is particularly so for gold mines," Murangari said in an email in response to questions from Reuters.
Murangari said gold output between January and April this year stood at 335kg, down from 1,407kg during the same period in 2008.
Gold production for the whole of last year hit a record low of 3,072kg from 6,798kg in 2007. At its peak, Zimbabwe produced an average of 2,400kg of gold a month.
Gold contributes one-third to Zimbabwe's dwindling export earnings since the collapse of commercial agriculture after President Robert Mugabe's government started in 2000 forcibly taking land from white farmers to resettle blacks.
Miners have since 2002 struggled with a political and economic crisis and foreign currency shortages, forcing mines to shut down while skilled labour flocked to neighbouring South Africa and as far as Australia.
But gold producers now want to re-open their mines after Zimbabwe's central bank in February relinquished its role as sales agent for gold, allowing firms for the first time to sell the metal and keep all the proceeds.
The country's biggest gold producer, Metallon Gold, London-listed Mwana Africa and Canada's New Dawn Mining Corp, have plans to re-open their mines within months.
Formed in February, Zimbabwe's new unity government of Mugabe and his main political rival Morgan Tsvangirai ended a long period of uncertainty and this has buoyed investor interest in mining, Murangari said.
"There are several enquiries from new investors interested in investing in the mining sector. This is more so after the formation of the inclusive government," he said.
"The formation of the inclusive government should help encourage investment in the mining sector as this builds confidence in the future stability of the country."
But existing gold miners are still owed millions by the government for their past gold deliveries, Murangari said.
"A final decision (on this issue) is needed from government to assure investors who are appearing hesitant to put new money to resuscitate the gold sector," he said.
Kinross Quarterly Profit Rises As It Searches for New Mines
Kinross Gold said on Tuesday its first-quarter profit rose a less-than-expected 7.9%, as a sharp jump in revenue was partially offset by higher depreciation charges.
Canada's No. 3 gold producer earned $76.5m in the quarter ended 31 March, up from a profit of $70.9m in the year-before period. On a per-share basis, profit slipped to 11 cents from 12 cents, due to a higher share float.
Stripping out $5.6m foreign exchange gain, Kinross earned $70.9m, or 10 cents per share, falling short of the profit of 15 cents a share expected by analysts polled by Reuters Estimates.
Gold equivalent production - a measure that includes silver production counted as an equivalent value in gold - jumped 69% to 526,888oz, while costs per ounce eased to $419 from $472.
Revenue climbed 61.2% to $532.7m, but this was partially offset by depreciation charges that nearly tripled to C$111.2m.
New mines
Kinross said its expanded Paracatu mine in Brazil should hit full design capacity by the end in the second quarter.
The Paracatu expansion, along with last year's opening of the Kupol mine in Russia and the Buckhorn mine in Alaska, are part of an expansion expected to boost the company's annual output 32% to as much as 2.5 million ounces this year.
Speaking on a conference call with analysts, Kinross chief executive Tye Burt said the company is now looking ahead to its next round of new mine openings, which should begin to start yielding ounces as early as 2011.
These include the Fruta del Norte project in Ecuador, which is now set to progress with a new mining law in that country, the recently-acquired Lobo-Marte project in Chile and the Cerro Casale project, also in Chile.
Kinross said in March it expected Cerro Casale to cost $3.6bn to build, but Burt noted the study was done in mid-2008 when the cost of construction materials was much higher.
"Of course, we'd expect costs to improve from there in this environment and with optimisation work now in progress," he said.
Kinross owns 49% of the project, while Barrick Gold Corp owns the rest.
Kinross said it had cash and short-term investments of $746.5m at 31 March.
It has also filed a preliminary shelf prospectus to issue up to $1bn in shares and debt securities, but said it has no current plans to do so.
Burt said the extra liquidity capacity of the prospectus was not for any specific purpose, but could be used to meet future funding commitments at new mines.
The company's shares fell 9 Canadian cents to C$19.20 on the Toronto Stock Exchange. The results were released after markets closed.
Canada's No. 3 gold producer earned $76.5m in the quarter ended 31 March, up from a profit of $70.9m in the year-before period. On a per-share basis, profit slipped to 11 cents from 12 cents, due to a higher share float.
Stripping out $5.6m foreign exchange gain, Kinross earned $70.9m, or 10 cents per share, falling short of the profit of 15 cents a share expected by analysts polled by Reuters Estimates.
Gold equivalent production - a measure that includes silver production counted as an equivalent value in gold - jumped 69% to 526,888oz, while costs per ounce eased to $419 from $472.
Revenue climbed 61.2% to $532.7m, but this was partially offset by depreciation charges that nearly tripled to C$111.2m.
New mines
Kinross said its expanded Paracatu mine in Brazil should hit full design capacity by the end in the second quarter.
The Paracatu expansion, along with last year's opening of the Kupol mine in Russia and the Buckhorn mine in Alaska, are part of an expansion expected to boost the company's annual output 32% to as much as 2.5 million ounces this year.
Speaking on a conference call with analysts, Kinross chief executive Tye Burt said the company is now looking ahead to its next round of new mine openings, which should begin to start yielding ounces as early as 2011.
These include the Fruta del Norte project in Ecuador, which is now set to progress with a new mining law in that country, the recently-acquired Lobo-Marte project in Chile and the Cerro Casale project, also in Chile.
Kinross said in March it expected Cerro Casale to cost $3.6bn to build, but Burt noted the study was done in mid-2008 when the cost of construction materials was much higher.
"Of course, we'd expect costs to improve from there in this environment and with optimisation work now in progress," he said.
Kinross owns 49% of the project, while Barrick Gold Corp owns the rest.
Kinross said it had cash and short-term investments of $746.5m at 31 March.
It has also filed a preliminary shelf prospectus to issue up to $1bn in shares and debt securities, but said it has no current plans to do so.
Burt said the extra liquidity capacity of the prospectus was not for any specific purpose, but could be used to meet future funding commitments at new mines.
The company's shares fell 9 Canadian cents to C$19.20 on the Toronto Stock Exchange. The results were released after markets closed.
Rio Tinto Says No Talks to Revise Chinalco Deal
Global miner Rio Tinto has not talked to Chinese state-owned metals firm Chinalco about revising a planned $19.5bn tie-up, and still believes the deal makes sense.
Investors have speculated Rio might have to amend the deal after its shares last week climbed above the $45 conversion price on the first of two tranches of convertible notes that would be issued to Chinalco under the deal agreed in February.
"There is no conversation," Rio's head of strategy Doug Ritchie said on Thursday.
Under the deal, Chinalco will buy $12.2bn worth of iron ore, copper and aluminium asset stakes and $7.3bn worth of convertible notes that would double its equity stake in Rio to 18% - helping Rio pay off half its debt.
Ritchie was asked whether the logic of the deal remained, in light of the recent improvement in debt, equity and commodity markets.
"I see no reason why not. It's a volatile market out there and we've got another couple of months before our shareholders will need to vote on it," he told reporters after speaking at a business lunch.
"Many things can change, so we'll just wait and see how it goes," he added.
Some major Rio shareholders have complained the deal favours one shareholder, Chinalco, and want to be able to take part in the capital raising, adding to speculation the deal may be revised.
Australia's Foreign Investment Review Board is due to hand its recommendation on whether the deal should be allowed to proceed to Treasurer Wayne Swan by mid-June. Swan has the final say, and Rio plans to put the deal to a shareholder vote if Swan approves it.
Ritchie dismissed speculation that former suitor BHP Billiton was talking to Rio about a tie-up of their Western Australian iron ore operations, as the Australian Financial Review business daily reported on Thursday.
"I read the story in today's Financial Review - very nice story. Nothing to it."
Pressed on whether there had been any discussions with BHP, Ritchie said: "As I suggested, not in recent times."
He added that BHP's takeover bid, aborted last November, had focused on trying to link up the two companies' Pilbara iron ore operations in Western Australia. Ritchie said just because equity and debt markets were showing signs of improving and China's stimulus spending was starting to bite, that did not mean Rio's prospects had suddenly improved, noting Japan, another big customer, had "fallen off a cliff".
Investors have speculated Rio might have to amend the deal after its shares last week climbed above the $45 conversion price on the first of two tranches of convertible notes that would be issued to Chinalco under the deal agreed in February.
"There is no conversation," Rio's head of strategy Doug Ritchie said on Thursday.
Under the deal, Chinalco will buy $12.2bn worth of iron ore, copper and aluminium asset stakes and $7.3bn worth of convertible notes that would double its equity stake in Rio to 18% - helping Rio pay off half its debt.
Ritchie was asked whether the logic of the deal remained, in light of the recent improvement in debt, equity and commodity markets.
"I see no reason why not. It's a volatile market out there and we've got another couple of months before our shareholders will need to vote on it," he told reporters after speaking at a business lunch.
"Many things can change, so we'll just wait and see how it goes," he added.
Some major Rio shareholders have complained the deal favours one shareholder, Chinalco, and want to be able to take part in the capital raising, adding to speculation the deal may be revised.
Australia's Foreign Investment Review Board is due to hand its recommendation on whether the deal should be allowed to proceed to Treasurer Wayne Swan by mid-June. Swan has the final say, and Rio plans to put the deal to a shareholder vote if Swan approves it.
Ritchie dismissed speculation that former suitor BHP Billiton was talking to Rio about a tie-up of their Western Australian iron ore operations, as the Australian Financial Review business daily reported on Thursday.
"I read the story in today's Financial Review - very nice story. Nothing to it."
Pressed on whether there had been any discussions with BHP, Ritchie said: "As I suggested, not in recent times."
He added that BHP's takeover bid, aborted last November, had focused on trying to link up the two companies' Pilbara iron ore operations in Western Australia. Ritchie said just because equity and debt markets were showing signs of improving and China's stimulus spending was starting to bite, that did not mean Rio's prospects had suddenly improved, noting Japan, another big customer, had "fallen off a cliff".
Vedanta Year Profit Slides 75%, Dividend Steady
India-focused mining group Vedanta Resources posted a 75% drop in attributable profit on Thursday after commodity prices slid, but the London-listed firm kept its final dividend unchanged.
"We have responded decisively to current market conditions and remain very well placed to prosper through the commodity cycle," said chairman Anil Agarwal.
"With strong volume growth, high-quality assets and continued progress in cost reduction, we are confident of delivering another year of profitable growth and strong free cash flows."
The company - which has operations in India, Australia and Zambia - has cash and liquid investments of $4.9bn and net debt of $200m.
Costs declined in the second half of the fiscal year and at the Zambian copper operations they fell by more than half from 293 cents per pound in the first half to 140 cents in March.
Vedanta posted an attributable profit of $219.4m for the fiscal year to end-March, down from $879m in the previous year and less than the average forecast of $294m given by six analysts surveyed by Reuters Estimates.
Its two most profitable divisions were zinc and iron ore, accounting for 38% and 35% of earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA).
Vedanta, which also produces copper and aluminium, said overall EBITDA fell 46.5% to $1.61bn, higher than the forecast of $1.55bn, while revenue declined 20% to $6.58bn.
Despite the weaker bottom line, Vedanta proposed a final dividend of 25 cents a share, the same as the previous year, bringing the total dividend to 41.5 cents.
Vedanta shares, which have outperformed the UK mining index by 50% this year, closed on Wednesday at 1,230 pence.
"We have responded decisively to current market conditions and remain very well placed to prosper through the commodity cycle," said chairman Anil Agarwal.
"With strong volume growth, high-quality assets and continued progress in cost reduction, we are confident of delivering another year of profitable growth and strong free cash flows."
The company - which has operations in India, Australia and Zambia - has cash and liquid investments of $4.9bn and net debt of $200m.
Costs declined in the second half of the fiscal year and at the Zambian copper operations they fell by more than half from 293 cents per pound in the first half to 140 cents in March.
Vedanta posted an attributable profit of $219.4m for the fiscal year to end-March, down from $879m in the previous year and less than the average forecast of $294m given by six analysts surveyed by Reuters Estimates.
Its two most profitable divisions were zinc and iron ore, accounting for 38% and 35% of earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA).
Vedanta, which also produces copper and aluminium, said overall EBITDA fell 46.5% to $1.61bn, higher than the forecast of $1.55bn, while revenue declined 20% to $6.58bn.
Despite the weaker bottom line, Vedanta proposed a final dividend of 25 cents a share, the same as the previous year, bringing the total dividend to 41.5 cents.
Vedanta shares, which have outperformed the UK mining index by 50% this year, closed on Wednesday at 1,230 pence.
Weaker Demand Weighs on Brazil Miner Vale's Profit
The world's biggest iron ore producer, Brazil's Vale, posted first-quarter net profit of $1.36bn on Thursday, down one third from $2.02bn a year ago as the economic crisis hit demand for the steel ingredient.
Vale, one of the world's top three miners, said earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization - a key measure of cash flow known as EBITDA - fell to $2.28bn from $3.7bn a year earlier under US Generally Accepted Accounting Principles.
Net earnings were barely changed from the fourth quarter of 2008, reaching $1.36bn compared with $1.37bn then when the global economic plunge had already taken hold.
Analysts had predicted Vale, one of the world's top three miners, would post a net profit of $1.34bn and EBITDA of $2.45bn for the quarter, according to the average forecast of five analysts surveyed by Reuters.
The company cut iron ore output by 10%, or about 30 million tonnes, and idled six pellet plants equating to about a third of pellet capacity in response to a sudden drop in demand for iron ore after the global economic crisis erupted.
It also shut down nickel mining operations in Ontario, Canada, for an eight-week period.
The average price Vale received for iron ore fell to $62.79 per tonne from $73.92, due to an increase in sales to Asian clients where it has enacted temporary discounts of up to 20% on the benchmark rate.
Announcing the discounts last month, Vale said the measure would align its rates more closely with the spot price and stir weak demand.
"Except for China, demand for iron ore remains extremely weak, with Japan, the second-biggest importer, reducing its purchases by 34.4%," compared to the first quarter of 2008, Vale said in its earnings report.
Iron ore output for the company fell 37% in the first quarter from a year ago, while its pellets production fell 73%, Vale reported in late April.
Vale, one of the world's top three miners, said earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization - a key measure of cash flow known as EBITDA - fell to $2.28bn from $3.7bn a year earlier under US Generally Accepted Accounting Principles.
Net earnings were barely changed from the fourth quarter of 2008, reaching $1.36bn compared with $1.37bn then when the global economic plunge had already taken hold.
Analysts had predicted Vale, one of the world's top three miners, would post a net profit of $1.34bn and EBITDA of $2.45bn for the quarter, according to the average forecast of five analysts surveyed by Reuters.
The company cut iron ore output by 10%, or about 30 million tonnes, and idled six pellet plants equating to about a third of pellet capacity in response to a sudden drop in demand for iron ore after the global economic crisis erupted.
It also shut down nickel mining operations in Ontario, Canada, for an eight-week period.
The average price Vale received for iron ore fell to $62.79 per tonne from $73.92, due to an increase in sales to Asian clients where it has enacted temporary discounts of up to 20% on the benchmark rate.
Announcing the discounts last month, Vale said the measure would align its rates more closely with the spot price and stir weak demand.
"Except for China, demand for iron ore remains extremely weak, with Japan, the second-biggest importer, reducing its purchases by 34.4%," compared to the first quarter of 2008, Vale said in its earnings report.
Iron ore output for the company fell 37% in the first quarter from a year ago, while its pellets production fell 73%, Vale reported in late April.
Xstrata to Consult Shareholders on Protest AGM Vote
The board of mining group Xstrata plans to consult shareholders after one third of voters at its annual general meeting opposed its pay policy.
"The board always takes into account the voting on the remuneration report and consults with shareholders about the remuneration policy," spokesperson Claire Divver said on Wednesday.
Tuesday's Xstrata vote was part of a fresh wave of activism by institutional investors, criticised for failing to take a tough line on firms regarded as responsible for the financial crisis.
On 16 April, more than a third of investors opposed oil major BP's executive pay plan and on Wednesday corporate governance consultants Pensions Investment Research Consultancy (PIRC) urged shareholders in Royal Dutch Shell to vote against its pay plan.
The spokesman of PIRC welcomed the vote at Tuesday's AGM of Xstrata, the world's fifth biggest diversified mining group by market value.
"This is a significant result and it was way above the average vote against remuneration reports in the last season, which was about 4% or 5%," he said.
"We would certainly argue that if you have a third of your shareholders opposing you over your remuneration report, it is a message that needs to be taken seriously."
PIRC had recommended a "no" vote on Xstrata's pay policy because it regarded the combined incentive pay as "excessive".
Last year, chief executive Mick Davis earned total compensation of $5.5m, including $2.3m in salary and a $2.7m bonus in shares deferred for one year. In 2007, Davis earned a total of $9.2m.
The remuneration report said that executive directors can earn bonuses worth a maximum of 300% of their salary.
There has also been concern by corporate governance experts about the role of Xstrata chairman Willy Strothotte, who is also chairman of Xstrata's biggest shareholder Glencore International and heads Xstrata's remuneration committee.
"The board always takes into account the voting on the remuneration report and consults with shareholders about the remuneration policy," spokesperson Claire Divver said on Wednesday.
Tuesday's Xstrata vote was part of a fresh wave of activism by institutional investors, criticised for failing to take a tough line on firms regarded as responsible for the financial crisis.
On 16 April, more than a third of investors opposed oil major BP's executive pay plan and on Wednesday corporate governance consultants Pensions Investment Research Consultancy (PIRC) urged shareholders in Royal Dutch Shell to vote against its pay plan.
The spokesman of PIRC welcomed the vote at Tuesday's AGM of Xstrata, the world's fifth biggest diversified mining group by market value.
"This is a significant result and it was way above the average vote against remuneration reports in the last season, which was about 4% or 5%," he said.
"We would certainly argue that if you have a third of your shareholders opposing you over your remuneration report, it is a message that needs to be taken seriously."
PIRC had recommended a "no" vote on Xstrata's pay policy because it regarded the combined incentive pay as "excessive".
Last year, chief executive Mick Davis earned total compensation of $5.5m, including $2.3m in salary and a $2.7m bonus in shares deferred for one year. In 2007, Davis earned a total of $9.2m.
The remuneration report said that executive directors can earn bonuses worth a maximum of 300% of their salary.
There has also been concern by corporate governance experts about the role of Xstrata chairman Willy Strothotte, who is also chairman of Xstrata's biggest shareholder Glencore International and heads Xstrata's remuneration committee.
Australian Gov Rejects Coal Compensation Report
Australia's Government shook off on Friday coal industry warnings that 10,000 jobs would be lost and 16 coal mines forced to close unless a planned national carbon emissions trading scheme was dramatically overhauled.
The centre-left government's exclusion of coal mining from compensation measures promised to the biggest polluting firms exposed to overseas competition was "seriously flawed", new research for the Australian Coal Association (ACA) said.
"It is effectively a A$10bn ($7.55bn) claim for assistance," junior Climate Change Minister Greg Combet told Reuters by telephone.
Australia is the world's largest coal exporter. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd this week announced a one-year delay to the world's most sweeping cap-and-trade scheme outside Europe, pushing the start of the scheme back until mid-2011.
Rudd also offered concessions to big industry in Australia, including a low fixed carbon price capped for a year at A$10 and increased eligibility for free emissions permits, including 95% for the heaviest export-oriented polluters.
But the ACA said while the coal industry was well above emissions levels of other similar industries slated to receive mid-level allocations of 66% free permits, like LNG and chemicals, it received just 4.5%.
"The industry under the current version of the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme will pay to the government over A$14bn in the first ten years," said Ralph Hillman, the ACA's executive director.
Combet, charged with troubleshooting compensation negotiations with coal miners and waste firms, said the report wrongly based its modelling on upper-level carbon reduction targets the government had set, which will be adopted only if the world acts together to curb emissions.
But the government was working with the industry and high emissions mines would receive assistance from a A$750m package, he said.
"It is a unique industry in that from mine to mine the level of emissions can vary to extraordinary lengths," he said.
The government's plan for the scheme set aside coal mining because few mines emit enough carbon emissions to warrant compensation. But the report for ACA said 79% of coal produced came from high-emission mines.
Business leaders are calling on the government and conservative opponents to resolve differences over the carbon trading scheme as Australia slides into recession.
Laws underpinning the carbon trading scheme will enter parliament later this month, with the government facing near certain defeat as the conservatives line up with key independents and Greens to oppose Rudd's amended plan.
Australia produces only 1.5% of world carbon emissions, but is one of the largest per capita polluters due to its reliance on coal-fired electricity for 80% of its energy requirements.
Electricity generators are in negotiations with the government over concerns that promised sector compensation will not be enough to close a A$100bn capital and refinancing shortfall.
The centre-left government's exclusion of coal mining from compensation measures promised to the biggest polluting firms exposed to overseas competition was "seriously flawed", new research for the Australian Coal Association (ACA) said.
"It is effectively a A$10bn ($7.55bn) claim for assistance," junior Climate Change Minister Greg Combet told Reuters by telephone.
Australia is the world's largest coal exporter. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd this week announced a one-year delay to the world's most sweeping cap-and-trade scheme outside Europe, pushing the start of the scheme back until mid-2011.
Rudd also offered concessions to big industry in Australia, including a low fixed carbon price capped for a year at A$10 and increased eligibility for free emissions permits, including 95% for the heaviest export-oriented polluters.
But the ACA said while the coal industry was well above emissions levels of other similar industries slated to receive mid-level allocations of 66% free permits, like LNG and chemicals, it received just 4.5%.
"The industry under the current version of the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme will pay to the government over A$14bn in the first ten years," said Ralph Hillman, the ACA's executive director.
Combet, charged with troubleshooting compensation negotiations with coal miners and waste firms, said the report wrongly based its modelling on upper-level carbon reduction targets the government had set, which will be adopted only if the world acts together to curb emissions.
But the government was working with the industry and high emissions mines would receive assistance from a A$750m package, he said.
"It is a unique industry in that from mine to mine the level of emissions can vary to extraordinary lengths," he said.
The government's plan for the scheme set aside coal mining because few mines emit enough carbon emissions to warrant compensation. But the report for ACA said 79% of coal produced came from high-emission mines.
Business leaders are calling on the government and conservative opponents to resolve differences over the carbon trading scheme as Australia slides into recession.
Laws underpinning the carbon trading scheme will enter parliament later this month, with the government facing near certain defeat as the conservatives line up with key independents and Greens to oppose Rudd's amended plan.
Australia produces only 1.5% of world carbon emissions, but is one of the largest per capita polluters due to its reliance on coal-fired electricity for 80% of its energy requirements.
Electricity generators are in negotiations with the government over concerns that promised sector compensation will not be enough to close a A$100bn capital and refinancing shortfall.
Barrick Gives Green Light to Pascua Lama Project
Barrick Gold gave a long-awaited green light to its Pascua Lama gold project on Thursday, after Chile and Argentina settled a dispute over taxation for the deposit, which straddles the borders of the two countries.
One of the world's last know mega-gold finds, Pascua Lama holds an estimated 17.8 million ounces of gold and will provide Canadian-based Barrick with production of between 750,000oz to 800,000oz a year over its first five years.
It is also one of the world's largest silver deposits, with initial annual production of 35 million ounces.
"It is a low-cost, long-life project which is expected to have a significant impact on our future production, cash costs, cash flow and earnings," Aaron Regent, chief executive of Barrick, said on a conference call.
Development of the project has dragged on for years, facing opposition initially from environmental groups concerned about the impact on glaciers and water supply, and then the dispute between Chile and Argentina on how to tax a project that sprawls into both countries.
The two sides finally reached a deal late last month, allowing Barrick to give the construction go-ahead for the project, which sits about 5,500m (18,000ft) above sea level in the Andes.
"This is the first binational mining project that will be developed in the world," Chile Mines Minister Santiago Gonzalez told a news conference. "This will mean gold production in the country will rise by 50%."
Chile currently produces about 1.4 million ounces of gold a year.
Cheap gold, high cost
Pascua Lama will yield ounces at a rock-bottom cost of $20 to $50 an ounce initially, when factoring in silver output as a cost offset.
If the mine were currently in operation it would reduce Barrick's average cost per ounce by about $40, it said. The company's average cost per ounce during the first quarter was $484.
Pascua Lama should have a mine life of more than 25 years, and Barrick expects production to begin in early 2013.
The mine will not be cheap to build, however, with construction costs estimated at $2.8bn to $3.0bn.
This follows news that Barrick's 50%-owned Donlin Creek mine - which has far less compelling economics than Pascua Lama - should cost about $4.5bn to build.
"The numbers are huge," said said John Ing, president of Toronto investment dealer Maison Placements, referring to both the costs and expected production.
Barrick shares rose 10 Canadian cents to C$38.55 on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
One of the world's last know mega-gold finds, Pascua Lama holds an estimated 17.8 million ounces of gold and will provide Canadian-based Barrick with production of between 750,000oz to 800,000oz a year over its first five years.
It is also one of the world's largest silver deposits, with initial annual production of 35 million ounces.
"It is a low-cost, long-life project which is expected to have a significant impact on our future production, cash costs, cash flow and earnings," Aaron Regent, chief executive of Barrick, said on a conference call.
Development of the project has dragged on for years, facing opposition initially from environmental groups concerned about the impact on glaciers and water supply, and then the dispute between Chile and Argentina on how to tax a project that sprawls into both countries.
The two sides finally reached a deal late last month, allowing Barrick to give the construction go-ahead for the project, which sits about 5,500m (18,000ft) above sea level in the Andes.
"This is the first binational mining project that will be developed in the world," Chile Mines Minister Santiago Gonzalez told a news conference. "This will mean gold production in the country will rise by 50%."
Chile currently produces about 1.4 million ounces of gold a year.
Cheap gold, high cost
Pascua Lama will yield ounces at a rock-bottom cost of $20 to $50 an ounce initially, when factoring in silver output as a cost offset.
If the mine were currently in operation it would reduce Barrick's average cost per ounce by about $40, it said. The company's average cost per ounce during the first quarter was $484.
Pascua Lama should have a mine life of more than 25 years, and Barrick expects production to begin in early 2013.
The mine will not be cheap to build, however, with construction costs estimated at $2.8bn to $3.0bn.
This follows news that Barrick's 50%-owned Donlin Creek mine - which has far less compelling economics than Pascua Lama - should cost about $4.5bn to build.
"The numbers are huge," said said John Ing, president of Toronto investment dealer Maison Placements, referring to both the costs and expected production.
Barrick shares rose 10 Canadian cents to C$38.55 on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
Potash Corp Plans to Ramp Up Production
Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan expects to start reversing its potash production slowdown in the second half of 2009, with output fully restored by the end of the year.
Ramped-up production will coincide with an expected rise in demand later this year, followed by a surge in 2010, said president and chief executive Bill Doyle.
"We think we're going to be bringing our people back to work and then I think we'll be having a really good go in 2010," Doyle told reporters after speaking at the company's annual meeting. "I see a remarkably changed year in 2010. (Production) could easily be fully restored by the end of this year and then giving her the gears in 2010."
Potash Corporation, whose shares dropped about 3% to C$108.55 Thursday, curtailed production at all six Canadian mines this year, amounting to a reduction of 3.5 million tonnes of production. With the slowdown reversed, the company expects to return to full production, which could reach a record 12 million tonnes in 2010.
Fertiliser prices soared in early 2008 on surging demand, tight inventories and record grain prices. But the global credit crunch and the economic downturn have weighed on the agricultural sector, and grain and nutrient prices tumbled as farmers deferred applying fertiliser.
Recovery for Potash Corporation, which reported a 46% drop in first-quarter profit last month, is just ahead in 2010, with the same global conditions of a growing population and rising demand for food in place that produced 2008's strong returns, Doyle said.
"We know the current slowdown will pass and that a strong demand surge is likely to follow," he told shareholders.
"It's like watching someone pull back on the pocket of a slingshot. When this is unleashed, we expect a significant rebound that will carry us forward."
Doyle expects the global supply of potash fertiliser to be tight for the next five to ten years, despite a massive planned increase in production capacity.
"Fertiliser customers have been slow to return to the table, but they cannot defer purchases indefinitely," Doyle said.
"Many major markets are showing signs of having destocked their inventories and must rebuild their supplies."
The company's reasons for optimism centre on a global rebound in the need for more fertiliser to increase food production for a growing population, particularly in China and India, Doyle said.
Potash Corporation is spending C$7bn ($6bn) on expansion and upgrading projects in the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and New Brunswick. They will give the company 18 million tonnes of capacity by the end of 2012, more than double the capacity when it started its expansion programme in 2005.
The company's competitors are also expanding, while junior mining companies and Australian mining giant BHP Billiton are planning new Canadian mines. Some of those won't go ahead, Doyle predicted. Talk has circulated of Potash Corporation being a potential takeover target for BHP, but Doyle said such talk has been around for two years.
"It could be possible. Do we worry about it? Absolutely not. We don't lose any sleep about what somebody else might or might not do... I don't see any imminent threat to us."
Potash Corporation's increased production could sell at higher prices, which could drive the company's potash gross margin to $25bn annually, said Doyle, adding he was not forecasting that figure.
Negotiations on new potash contracts with China and India, two major buyers, are expected to conclude by the end of the second quarter, Doyle said.
Ramped-up production will coincide with an expected rise in demand later this year, followed by a surge in 2010, said president and chief executive Bill Doyle.
"We think we're going to be bringing our people back to work and then I think we'll be having a really good go in 2010," Doyle told reporters after speaking at the company's annual meeting. "I see a remarkably changed year in 2010. (Production) could easily be fully restored by the end of this year and then giving her the gears in 2010."
Potash Corporation, whose shares dropped about 3% to C$108.55 Thursday, curtailed production at all six Canadian mines this year, amounting to a reduction of 3.5 million tonnes of production. With the slowdown reversed, the company expects to return to full production, which could reach a record 12 million tonnes in 2010.
Fertiliser prices soared in early 2008 on surging demand, tight inventories and record grain prices. But the global credit crunch and the economic downturn have weighed on the agricultural sector, and grain and nutrient prices tumbled as farmers deferred applying fertiliser.
Recovery for Potash Corporation, which reported a 46% drop in first-quarter profit last month, is just ahead in 2010, with the same global conditions of a growing population and rising demand for food in place that produced 2008's strong returns, Doyle said.
"We know the current slowdown will pass and that a strong demand surge is likely to follow," he told shareholders.
"It's like watching someone pull back on the pocket of a slingshot. When this is unleashed, we expect a significant rebound that will carry us forward."
Doyle expects the global supply of potash fertiliser to be tight for the next five to ten years, despite a massive planned increase in production capacity.
"Fertiliser customers have been slow to return to the table, but they cannot defer purchases indefinitely," Doyle said.
"Many major markets are showing signs of having destocked their inventories and must rebuild their supplies."
The company's reasons for optimism centre on a global rebound in the need for more fertiliser to increase food production for a growing population, particularly in China and India, Doyle said.
Potash Corporation is spending C$7bn ($6bn) on expansion and upgrading projects in the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and New Brunswick. They will give the company 18 million tonnes of capacity by the end of 2012, more than double the capacity when it started its expansion programme in 2005.
The company's competitors are also expanding, while junior mining companies and Australian mining giant BHP Billiton are planning new Canadian mines. Some of those won't go ahead, Doyle predicted. Talk has circulated of Potash Corporation being a potential takeover target for BHP, but Doyle said such talk has been around for two years.
"It could be possible. Do we worry about it? Absolutely not. We don't lose any sleep about what somebody else might or might not do... I don't see any imminent threat to us."
Potash Corporation's increased production could sell at higher prices, which could drive the company's potash gross margin to $25bn annually, said Doyle, adding he was not forecasting that figure.
Negotiations on new potash contracts with China and India, two major buyers, are expected to conclude by the end of the second quarter, Doyle said.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Boddington Gold Mine, Perth, Australia
The Boddington Gold Mine (BGM) is about 130km south-east of Perth in Western Australia. The largest undeveloped gold mine in the country, it is poised to become the highest producing mine once production ramps up over the next few years.
The $2.4bn project was initially a three-way joint venture between Newmont Mining, AngloGold Ashanti and Newcrest Mining. In 2006 Newmont bought Newcrest’s 22.22% share, bringing its interest to 66.67% and ending any Australian ownership. AngloGold owns the remaining 33.33%.
The original, mainly oxide open-pit mine was closed at the end of 2001.
Recent exploration has identified an extensive 19.57Moz gold bedrock resource, the basis of the Boddington Gold Mine Expansion Project. Approved in 2006, this will involve mining the hard gold/copper ore that lies beneath depleted oxide pits at Boddington’s original mine site.
The project has an attributable capital budget of between A$0.8bn and A$0.9bn. At year-end, the overall project was approximately 65% complete, with engineering and procurement activities nearing completion. Construction of the treatment plant was approximately 32% complete. At its peak the project is expected to employ some 2,000 workers. Once production begins it is expected that around 650 full-time staff will be required.
Based on the current plan, mine life is estimated to be more than 20 years, with attributable life-of-mine gold production expected to be greater than 5.7Moz.
Newmont and Anglo have focussed their exploration activities on the poorly explored areas of the greenstone belt outside the already identified Boddington Expansion resource. The exploration strategy is to identify the resource potential of the remainder of the greenstone belt, with the emphasis on high-grade lode-type deposits.
The $2.4bn project was initially a three-way joint venture between Newmont Mining, AngloGold Ashanti and Newcrest Mining. In 2006 Newmont bought Newcrest’s 22.22% share, bringing its interest to 66.67% and ending any Australian ownership. AngloGold owns the remaining 33.33%.
The original, mainly oxide open-pit mine was closed at the end of 2001.
Recent exploration has identified an extensive 19.57Moz gold bedrock resource, the basis of the Boddington Gold Mine Expansion Project. Approved in 2006, this will involve mining the hard gold/copper ore that lies beneath depleted oxide pits at Boddington’s original mine site.
The project has an attributable capital budget of between A$0.8bn and A$0.9bn. At year-end, the overall project was approximately 65% complete, with engineering and procurement activities nearing completion. Construction of the treatment plant was approximately 32% complete. At its peak the project is expected to employ some 2,000 workers. Once production begins it is expected that around 650 full-time staff will be required.
Based on the current plan, mine life is estimated to be more than 20 years, with attributable life-of-mine gold production expected to be greater than 5.7Moz.
Newmont and Anglo have focussed their exploration activities on the poorly explored areas of the greenstone belt outside the already identified Boddington Expansion resource. The exploration strategy is to identify the resource potential of the remainder of the greenstone belt, with the emphasis on high-grade lode-type deposits.
Campbell Gold Mine, Ontario, Canada
In continuous operation since 1949, since when it has produced over 11Moz of gold, the Campbell underground gold mine is located at Balmertown, northwestern Ontario. Formerly wholly owned by Placer Dome Inc., the mine is now owned by Goldcorp Inc., following Placer’s take-over by Barrick Gold Corp. in early 2006. Barrick subsequently sold several former Placer properties to Goldcorp, especially where there was the potential for operational synergies between neighbouring mines.
Goldcorp has now merged Campbell with its existing Red Lake mine as one operating unit, with the combined operation expected to have an output of around 1Moz/y of gold by 2008.
GEOLOGY AND RESERVES
Campbell is located in the eastern part of the Red Lake Greenstone Belt, in the Birch Lake/Uchi Lake sub-province of the Canadian Shield. The auriferous zones occur on the eastern border of a major archean tholeiitic volcanic complex. The gold occurs as either free gold or is in sulphide minerals, mainly arsenopyrite, pyrite and pyrrhotite. A minor amount of silver occurs with the gold.
As of December 2005, proven and probable ore reserves stood at 5.5Mt grading 8.2g/t and containing 1.45Moz of gold. Measured and indicated mineralisation contained a further 1.83Moz.
MINE LAYOUT AND DEVELOPMENT
Mine access is through two separate shafts – No.1 shaft is a four-compartment shaft sunk to below 27 level (1316m below surface). The Reid shaft opened up more than 600 vertical metres of new ground below 27 level, and is now the main ore hoisting shaft.
The mine is track-based with full haulage facilities on every level. Electric LHDs and hydraulic longhole drills are used in high-tonnage areas. Mining methods have evolved from shrinkage stoping through cut-and-fill and finally to longhole mining. Longhole mining includes sub-level and crown pillar operations mine-wide and accounts for 75% of production with cut-and-fill producing another 2%. The remaining 23% is from development.
Mechanised cut-and-fill commenced in 2001 and will be preferred over conventional longhole where feasible. Pastefill totally replaced hydraulic fill in the final quarter of 2000 to speed mining.
Goldcorp has now merged Campbell with its existing Red Lake mine as one operating unit, with the combined operation expected to have an output of around 1Moz/y of gold by 2008.
GEOLOGY AND RESERVES
Campbell is located in the eastern part of the Red Lake Greenstone Belt, in the Birch Lake/Uchi Lake sub-province of the Canadian Shield. The auriferous zones occur on the eastern border of a major archean tholeiitic volcanic complex. The gold occurs as either free gold or is in sulphide minerals, mainly arsenopyrite, pyrite and pyrrhotite. A minor amount of silver occurs with the gold.
As of December 2005, proven and probable ore reserves stood at 5.5Mt grading 8.2g/t and containing 1.45Moz of gold. Measured and indicated mineralisation contained a further 1.83Moz.
MINE LAYOUT AND DEVELOPMENT
Mine access is through two separate shafts – No.1 shaft is a four-compartment shaft sunk to below 27 level (1316m below surface). The Reid shaft opened up more than 600 vertical metres of new ground below 27 level, and is now the main ore hoisting shaft.
The mine is track-based with full haulage facilities on every level. Electric LHDs and hydraulic longhole drills are used in high-tonnage areas. Mining methods have evolved from shrinkage stoping through cut-and-fill and finally to longhole mining. Longhole mining includes sub-level and crown pillar operations mine-wide and accounts for 75% of production with cut-and-fill producing another 2%. The remaining 23% is from development.
Mechanised cut-and-fill commenced in 2001 and will be preferred over conventional longhole where feasible. Pastefill totally replaced hydraulic fill in the final quarter of 2000 to speed mining.
Boulby Potash Mine, United Kingdom
In the 1960s, with fertiliser demand growing and the UK reliant on imported potash, ICI decided to develop reserves 40km from its Cleveland facilities in north-east England. The 200ha mine site is at Boulby, half-way between the Tees estuary and the port of Whitby.
The design capacity is now over 1.0Mt/y of potassium chloride (KCl) product, sufficient to maintain a 55% UK market share and substantial export sales. Potash extraction requires the co-production of salt. Construction started in 1969 and the first product was delivered in 1973. To ship the potash, a new ship/road/rail terminal was constructed at Teesdock.
ICI formed Cleveland Potash Ltd (CPL) in joint venture with the Anglo American group but subsequently sold its stake to Anglo American. In 2002 the "non-core" business was sold to ICL Fertilizers, a division of Israel Chemicals Ltd.
CPL, which employs 828 people, is now integrated with Iberpotash in Spain and other regional subsidiaries into ICL Fertilizers Europe, which handles marketing and distribution of the products. Dead Sea Works recovers potash products in Israel.
GEOLOGY AND RESERVES
Boulby potash occurs at depths between 1,200 and 1,500m in a seam ranging from 0–20m but averaging 7m in thickness. Within a permian evaporite sequence, sylvinite ore comprises 35–45% sylvite (potash) and 45–55% halite (salt), plus impurities. The sedimentary strata above the evaporites include the triassic Sherwood sandstone, which contains brine under high pressure.
This situation restricted exploration drilling from surface and, together with the depth involved, prevented underground exploration and trial mining. Consequently, planners were aware of the high stresses to be dealt with but not the full extent of faulting or the presence of pressurised gas in shaly parts of the potash, sufficient to cause blow-outs during extraction. However, the geology provides excellent conditions for the Institute of Underground Sciences to undertake 'dark-matter' experiments.
The design capacity is now over 1.0Mt/y of potassium chloride (KCl) product, sufficient to maintain a 55% UK market share and substantial export sales. Potash extraction requires the co-production of salt. Construction started in 1969 and the first product was delivered in 1973. To ship the potash, a new ship/road/rail terminal was constructed at Teesdock.
ICI formed Cleveland Potash Ltd (CPL) in joint venture with the Anglo American group but subsequently sold its stake to Anglo American. In 2002 the "non-core" business was sold to ICL Fertilizers, a division of Israel Chemicals Ltd.
CPL, which employs 828 people, is now integrated with Iberpotash in Spain and other regional subsidiaries into ICL Fertilizers Europe, which handles marketing and distribution of the products. Dead Sea Works recovers potash products in Israel.
GEOLOGY AND RESERVES
Boulby potash occurs at depths between 1,200 and 1,500m in a seam ranging from 0–20m but averaging 7m in thickness. Within a permian evaporite sequence, sylvinite ore comprises 35–45% sylvite (potash) and 45–55% halite (salt), plus impurities. The sedimentary strata above the evaporites include the triassic Sherwood sandstone, which contains brine under high pressure.
This situation restricted exploration drilling from surface and, together with the depth involved, prevented underground exploration and trial mining. Consequently, planners were aware of the high stresses to be dealt with but not the full extent of faulting or the presence of pressurised gas in shaly parts of the potash, sufficient to cause blow-outs during extraction. However, the geology provides excellent conditions for the Institute of Underground Sciences to undertake 'dark-matter' experiments.
Black Thunder Coal Mine, WY, USA
The Black Thunder thermal coal mine, located in the Southern Powder River Basin of Wyoming, opened in 1977 and for many years was the largest single coal operation in the US. Having been relegated to second-largest, after Peabody's North Antelope-Rochelle operation, also in the Powder River Basin, in 2004 Black Thunder once again became the nation's leading coal-producer following Arch Coal's acquisition of the neighbouring North Rochelle mine from Triton Coal Co. The combined operation is now producing coal at a rate of around 91Mt/y, equivalent to about 10% of total US coal production. In 2004, Black Thunder became the first coal mine in the US to ship a cumulative 1,000Mst (907Mt) over its 27-year life to date.
Construction began at Black Thunder in 1976 with the installation of crushing, conveying, sampling and high-speed train-loading systems. Today, all plant processes are computer controlled, including the precision loadout systems and the hi-tech, near-pit crushing and conveying system installed in 1989.
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Until 1998, Black Thunder was owned and operated by ARCO Coal, part of the Atlantic Richfield group. It is now owned by Arch Coal, the second-largest coal miner in the US, which bought the property following ARCO's withdrawal from the coal market.
GEOLOGY AND RESERVES
Black Thunder works coal reserves in the Wyodak seam. Hosted in the palaeocene Fort Union formation, which covers vast areas of Wyoming, Montana and the Dakotas, the seam at Black Thunder is gently dipping, 22m thick and locally splits into the Anderson and Canyon beds separated by up to 18m of waste. In 2004, Arch successfully bid $611m for the rights to mine the neighbouring Little Thunder reserves, which contain some 650Mt of recoverable coal, increasing the property’s reserves to 1,370Mt-plus.
COAL QUALITY
The mine produces low-sulphur, sub-bituminous coal suitable for power station fuel without any preparation except crushing. Black Thunder coal has a heating value of 20.3MJ/kg, and the ash contents are around 5% while as-received moisture is 25–30%. The moisture content of some Powder River Basin coals increases their reactivity to the extent that spontaneous combustion can be a problem if they are not properly handled.
Construction began at Black Thunder in 1976 with the installation of crushing, conveying, sampling and high-speed train-loading systems. Today, all plant processes are computer controlled, including the precision loadout systems and the hi-tech, near-pit crushing and conveying system installed in 1989.
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Until 1998, Black Thunder was owned and operated by ARCO Coal, part of the Atlantic Richfield group. It is now owned by Arch Coal, the second-largest coal miner in the US, which bought the property following ARCO's withdrawal from the coal market.
GEOLOGY AND RESERVES
Black Thunder works coal reserves in the Wyodak seam. Hosted in the palaeocene Fort Union formation, which covers vast areas of Wyoming, Montana and the Dakotas, the seam at Black Thunder is gently dipping, 22m thick and locally splits into the Anderson and Canyon beds separated by up to 18m of waste. In 2004, Arch successfully bid $611m for the rights to mine the neighbouring Little Thunder reserves, which contain some 650Mt of recoverable coal, increasing the property’s reserves to 1,370Mt-plus.
COAL QUALITY
The mine produces low-sulphur, sub-bituminous coal suitable for power station fuel without any preparation except crushing. Black Thunder coal has a heating value of 20.3MJ/kg, and the ash contents are around 5% while as-received moisture is 25–30%. The moisture content of some Powder River Basin coals increases their reactivity to the extent that spontaneous combustion can be a problem if they are not properly handled.
Bajo de la Alumbrera Copper and Gold Mine, Argentina
The Bajo de la Alumbrera (Alumbrera) copper-gold mine in Argentina, owned and operated by Minera Alumbrera Ltd (MAA), commenced commercial operation in February 1998. The mine is located in Catamarca province, 1,100km north west of Buenos Aires at an altitude of 2,500m.
The Argentine state- and provincially-owned mining company, Yacimientos Mineros de Agua de Dionisio (YMAD), which has the title to the deposit, awarded an international tender for the Alumbrera concession to International Musto Exploration in 1992. Minera Alumbrera was formed in 1994 when MIM Holdings bought a 50% operating interest. During 1995, North Ltd and Rio Algom acquired shares in International Musto and each took a 25% holding in MAA. Pre-production capital expenditure totalled $1.2bn and capital expenditures in the 1998 and 1999 financial years were $198m and $17m respectively. Royalty payments to Catamarca province commenced in 1998. YMAD will start earning 20% of the net proceeds (before tax) once project capital plus interest has been repaid.
In 2003, three years after Rio Tinto acquired North Ltd and Billiton (now BHP Billiton) bought Rio Algom, the two companies sold their holdings to the Canadian company, Wheaton River Minerals, while MIM was acquired by Xstrata. In 2005 Xstrata opened an office in Chile, initially to manage both Alumbrera and the company's Las Bambas copper project in Peru.
GEOLOGY AND RESERVES
The Bajo de la Alumbrera deposit is a classic copper-gold porphyry. Porphyritic dacite intrudes volcanic andesite, chalcopyrite being the main copper mineral. Near-surface weathered material overlies primary sulphide. In 2003 the mine's reserve base totalled 330Mt proven grading 0.51% copper and 0.59g/t gold plus 42Mt probable grading 0.55% copper and 0.64g/t gold.
However, 2004 drilling led MAA to reoptimise the mine plan based on a new geological model and new cost figures, and this increased contained metal reserves by more than 20%, extending the mine's life to 2015. In mid-2005, reserves were reported to be 360Mt, grading 0.46% copper and 0.51g/t gold, while mineral resources stood at 380Mt (0.47% copper and 0.51g/t gold).
The Argentine state- and provincially-owned mining company, Yacimientos Mineros de Agua de Dionisio (YMAD), which has the title to the deposit, awarded an international tender for the Alumbrera concession to International Musto Exploration in 1992. Minera Alumbrera was formed in 1994 when MIM Holdings bought a 50% operating interest. During 1995, North Ltd and Rio Algom acquired shares in International Musto and each took a 25% holding in MAA. Pre-production capital expenditure totalled $1.2bn and capital expenditures in the 1998 and 1999 financial years were $198m and $17m respectively. Royalty payments to Catamarca province commenced in 1998. YMAD will start earning 20% of the net proceeds (before tax) once project capital plus interest has been repaid.
In 2003, three years after Rio Tinto acquired North Ltd and Billiton (now BHP Billiton) bought Rio Algom, the two companies sold their holdings to the Canadian company, Wheaton River Minerals, while MIM was acquired by Xstrata. In 2005 Xstrata opened an office in Chile, initially to manage both Alumbrera and the company's Las Bambas copper project in Peru.
GEOLOGY AND RESERVES
The Bajo de la Alumbrera deposit is a classic copper-gold porphyry. Porphyritic dacite intrudes volcanic andesite, chalcopyrite being the main copper mineral. Near-surface weathered material overlies primary sulphide. In 2003 the mine's reserve base totalled 330Mt proven grading 0.51% copper and 0.59g/t gold plus 42Mt probable grading 0.55% copper and 0.64g/t gold.
However, 2004 drilling led MAA to reoptimise the mine plan based on a new geological model and new cost figures, and this increased contained metal reserves by more than 20%, extending the mine's life to 2015. In mid-2005, reserves were reported to be 360Mt, grading 0.46% copper and 0.51g/t gold, while mineral resources stood at 380Mt (0.47% copper and 0.51g/t gold).
Brazil's Vale Discounts Iron Ore to Sell
Brazil's mining giant Vale said it is selling iron ore at a 20% discount to 2008 benchmark prices, a strategy that analysts say will boost the miner's sales amid weak demand.
Vale, the world's largest iron ore miner, competes directly with Australian rivals BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto, which are reported to be selling ore at spot prices rather than holding clients to predetermined benchmark rates.
This may be more attractive to clients in the steel sector, who may be uncertain of the economy's direction in the short term.
Vale insists it does not sell on the spot market. The provisional discount should help it keep market share until new annually revised term contract prices are set with the big steel makers, who have been demanding a 40% cut in prices, or more, from 2008 levels.
"Vale does this as a way to stir up demand, since the fourth quarter sales were very weak," said an analyst at investment bank Banif, who declined to be named. "Vale has been practicing this type of sale in the first quarter."
Vale told reporters in February during a conference call on its fourth-quarter results that it had signed on several new Chinese clients to iron ore supply contracts and was set to ship a record amount of iron ore to Asia in the first quarter.
Vale is scheduled to report its first quarter results on 6 May.
Analysts say the discount is not the end of Vale's commitment to the benchmark system, in which the world's largest iron ore miners and steel makers agree upon a fixed annual price for ore deliveries.
Instead, they say it is a temporary measure to improve sales that were dented by the global financial crisis and falling demand for steel.
Interim measure
New term prices normally take effect from 1 April but price changes are applied retroactively if they have failed to reach a deal by then, as happened this year.
Vale said in a statement to the market on Monday that it is being flexible on ore term prices on a provisional basis, allowing clients to pay 80% of the 2008 benchmark price for shipments and to settle any balance once 2009 prices are set.
Demand for iron ore has weakened since the global economic crisis took hold last September as industries reduce their output and requirements for steel, the main end use for iron ore.
Offering a discount is normal under these conditions, "it's just that the new term price has not yet been set," said Pedro Galdi, an analyst at SLW Corretora, adding Vale was unlikely to start selling on the spot market or abandon the benchmark.
"It will be another unexpected year with the industry granting a discount until the price is set," Galdi said. "The spot price reflects the high and low price, that is, the volatility.
"So, at first the Chinese client may win, but at some point he will shoot himself in the foot because the economy will recover and the spot price will be much higher (than the benchmark)."
Brazilian 2008 contract iron ore prices range from around $76 to $92 per tonne, depending on the mine. Spot iron ore prices soared as high as nearly $200 a tonne in February 2008, then tumbled as low as around $60 a tonne in October as the financial crisis deepened.
Cristiane Viana at Agora brokerage sees Vale's decision to offer a discount as an indication that the iron ore mining industry is moving toward a mixed pricing model that will see more spot sales alongside trade regulated by contract.
"It's gradual. I don't see the change happening in the next two to three years but the companies will gradually have spot and long-term contracts," Viana said.
Vale, the world's largest iron ore miner, competes directly with Australian rivals BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto, which are reported to be selling ore at spot prices rather than holding clients to predetermined benchmark rates.
This may be more attractive to clients in the steel sector, who may be uncertain of the economy's direction in the short term.
Vale insists it does not sell on the spot market. The provisional discount should help it keep market share until new annually revised term contract prices are set with the big steel makers, who have been demanding a 40% cut in prices, or more, from 2008 levels.
"Vale does this as a way to stir up demand, since the fourth quarter sales were very weak," said an analyst at investment bank Banif, who declined to be named. "Vale has been practicing this type of sale in the first quarter."
Vale told reporters in February during a conference call on its fourth-quarter results that it had signed on several new Chinese clients to iron ore supply contracts and was set to ship a record amount of iron ore to Asia in the first quarter.
Vale is scheduled to report its first quarter results on 6 May.
Analysts say the discount is not the end of Vale's commitment to the benchmark system, in which the world's largest iron ore miners and steel makers agree upon a fixed annual price for ore deliveries.
Instead, they say it is a temporary measure to improve sales that were dented by the global financial crisis and falling demand for steel.
Interim measure
New term prices normally take effect from 1 April but price changes are applied retroactively if they have failed to reach a deal by then, as happened this year.
Vale said in a statement to the market on Monday that it is being flexible on ore term prices on a provisional basis, allowing clients to pay 80% of the 2008 benchmark price for shipments and to settle any balance once 2009 prices are set.
Demand for iron ore has weakened since the global economic crisis took hold last September as industries reduce their output and requirements for steel, the main end use for iron ore.
Offering a discount is normal under these conditions, "it's just that the new term price has not yet been set," said Pedro Galdi, an analyst at SLW Corretora, adding Vale was unlikely to start selling on the spot market or abandon the benchmark.
"It will be another unexpected year with the industry granting a discount until the price is set," Galdi said. "The spot price reflects the high and low price, that is, the volatility.
"So, at first the Chinese client may win, but at some point he will shoot himself in the foot because the economy will recover and the spot price will be much higher (than the benchmark)."
Brazilian 2008 contract iron ore prices range from around $76 to $92 per tonne, depending on the mine. Spot iron ore prices soared as high as nearly $200 a tonne in February 2008, then tumbled as low as around $60 a tonne in October as the financial crisis deepened.
Cristiane Viana at Agora brokerage sees Vale's decision to offer a discount as an indication that the iron ore mining industry is moving toward a mixed pricing model that will see more spot sales alongside trade regulated by contract.
"It's gradual. I don't see the change happening in the next two to three years but the companies will gradually have spot and long-term contracts," Viana said.
CNMC $800m Myanmar Mine on Track
A Chinese mining giant has said it is committed to an $800m ferro-nickel mine in northern Myanmar, which officials said will eventually lift the impoverished South East Asian nation's GDP by over 2%.
Executives from the China Nonferrous Metal Group (CNMC) told visiting Myanmar Prime Minister Thein Sein, a general in the ruling junta, they would strive to complete preparations for the big mine at Tagaungtaung in northern Myanmar as early as possible, the China Nonferrous Metal News reported on Tuesday.
The Chinese-language newspaper reached subscribers on Wednesday.
The CNMC underscored the economic importance of the project and the support it had received from Chinese leaders seeking to shore up ties with Myanmar.
"The Tagaungtaung ferro-nickel mine is the biggest cooperative project between China and Myanmar in the mining sector," the group's general manager, Luo Tao, told Thien, who was attending a regional business forum on the southern Chinese island of Hainan, according to the paper.
The global slump and sharp falls in metals prices have forced several companies to abandon or put on hold their plans for new mines.
But China has pressed forward with investments that will give it a more secure hold on resources when growth revives. And it has also kept close to Myanmar's ruling junta even as other Asian nations criticise the generals for their harsh political grip.
Luo said the mine will produce 80,000t of ferro-nickel, an alloy used in stainless steel production, and lift Myanmar's gross domestic production by over 2%. But he did not say when the mine will open.
Earlier reports on the CNMC website said the Tagaungtaung mine would take 30 months to build, meaning operation could start around early 2011, eventually producing about 22,000t of pure nickel content every year.
The latest report did not specify how much of a stake the Myanmar Government has in the mine, an issue that apparently contributed to delays in the project.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has given his "close concern and vigorous support" to the mining deal, which was signed in July 2008, said the paper. And Myanmar Prime Minister Thien said he would solve any problems the project encounters, it also said.
Tagaungtaung, also rendered as Tagaung Taung, is a mineral-rich area about 320km north of Mandalay.
The junta, which has ruled the former Burma since 1962, has refused to recognise a 1990 landslide election victory of the opposition National League for Democracy. Its leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, has been under house arrest for most of the past two decades.
China has kept close ties with the junta, but Beijing has also been frustrated by narcotics flowing from Myanmar into its south-west.
Executives from the China Nonferrous Metal Group (CNMC) told visiting Myanmar Prime Minister Thein Sein, a general in the ruling junta, they would strive to complete preparations for the big mine at Tagaungtaung in northern Myanmar as early as possible, the China Nonferrous Metal News reported on Tuesday.
The Chinese-language newspaper reached subscribers on Wednesday.
The CNMC underscored the economic importance of the project and the support it had received from Chinese leaders seeking to shore up ties with Myanmar.
"The Tagaungtaung ferro-nickel mine is the biggest cooperative project between China and Myanmar in the mining sector," the group's general manager, Luo Tao, told Thien, who was attending a regional business forum on the southern Chinese island of Hainan, according to the paper.
The global slump and sharp falls in metals prices have forced several companies to abandon or put on hold their plans for new mines.
But China has pressed forward with investments that will give it a more secure hold on resources when growth revives. And it has also kept close to Myanmar's ruling junta even as other Asian nations criticise the generals for their harsh political grip.
Luo said the mine will produce 80,000t of ferro-nickel, an alloy used in stainless steel production, and lift Myanmar's gross domestic production by over 2%. But he did not say when the mine will open.
Earlier reports on the CNMC website said the Tagaungtaung mine would take 30 months to build, meaning operation could start around early 2011, eventually producing about 22,000t of pure nickel content every year.
The latest report did not specify how much of a stake the Myanmar Government has in the mine, an issue that apparently contributed to delays in the project.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has given his "close concern and vigorous support" to the mining deal, which was signed in July 2008, said the paper. And Myanmar Prime Minister Thien said he would solve any problems the project encounters, it also said.
Tagaungtaung, also rendered as Tagaung Taung, is a mineral-rich area about 320km north of Mandalay.
The junta, which has ruled the former Burma since 1962, has refused to recognise a 1990 landslide election victory of the opposition National League for Democracy. Its leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, has been under house arrest for most of the past two decades.
China has kept close ties with the junta, but Beijing has also been frustrated by narcotics flowing from Myanmar into its south-west.
BHP Says Escondida Copper Output to Fall 30%
Output from the world's biggest copper mine, Escondida, will decline by 30% this fiscal year, BHP Billiton said on Wednesday, as it posted falls in quarterly production across its main commodities.
The cut in its forecast for Escondida was part of a surprisingly large drop of 14% in copper output in the March quarter. Iron ore and aluminium production also fell, and the company said it stood ready to halt operations as demand weakened.
"In the medium term, we expect that market conditions will remain uncertain," said BHP, which has been cutting production and shelving projects amid the worst global recession in decades.
"All our operations will remain under review. We will continue to take appropriate actions in any business that is cash negative and set to remain so, or where there is lack of demand," the company added in its production report.
Last year, the Escondida mine in Chile produced 1.2 million tonnes of copper, or just under 5% of global output, so a 30% drop equates to about 360,000t.
BHP owns 57.5% of the mine. Rio Tinto holds 30% and Mitsubishi Corp 10%. Rio has agreed to sell China's Chinalco half its stake.
A BHP spokeswoman said the company had initially anticipated Escondida production to slip by around 20-25% in the company's fiscal year to 30 June.
BHP said Escondida production had been hurt by lower ore grades and weaker milling operations, dragging its overall copper output down. Escondida has been steadily returning less copper since the June 2008 quarter, when BHP yielded 178,200t of metal in concentrate and 40,300t of cathode.
"The copper number is particularly of concern because copper is a bellwether of the wider state of the industrial commodities sector," said Andrew Harrington, Sydney-based mining analyst for the Patersons brokerage.
In contrast, Rio last week showed a 33% gain in quarterly copper production, boosted by higher output from other mines it owns.
"Escondida is still a problem for both BHP and Rio," said Gavin Wendt, a mining analyst for Fat Prophets in Sydney. "But Rio was able to offset that nicely with a better performance from other non-Escondida related mines."
Copper, a manufacturing staple in everything from toilet taps to computer chips, has shed more than 6% of its value this week, though the price is up nearly 50% since January, leading some analysts to suggest the worst of the commodities bust is over.
Imports of refined copper to China, the world's biggest consumer and a big customer of Chilean mines, rose to a record 296,843t in March, Customs figures showed on Wednesday, a record amount for the second consecutive month.
A proposal by BHP to buy Rio with shares worth up to $193bn at one point would have significantly lifted BHP's exposure to copper.
Speculation BHP may make a second offer resurfaced in the last week, though takeover regulations mean it must wait until 27 November 2009 unless it can get the support of Rio's board.
So far, BHP's biggest curtailment has been in nickel, with the closure of the Ravensthorpe nickel mine in Australia. Analysts say more cutbacks could follow in other commodities, such as alumina and aluminium.
Coal output in Australia already has turned down as Asian steel mills hit hard times, with metallurgical coal output down 25% from the previous quarter. Iron ore, another steel-making commodity, is also feeling the pinch.
BHP reported a 1% drop in iron ore production and 4% fall in aluminium year-on-year, down 2% and 4% respectively on the previous quarter. Nickel rose 10% year-on-year and was off 4% on the second quarter.
Iron ore sales by BHP into higher-priced long-term contracts were reduced to 72% of overall output from its Australian mines over the last three quarters as buyers asked to defer long-term sales contracts because of weakening demand.
All the deferred ore was being sold on the spot market, BHP said.
The cut in its forecast for Escondida was part of a surprisingly large drop of 14% in copper output in the March quarter. Iron ore and aluminium production also fell, and the company said it stood ready to halt operations as demand weakened.
"In the medium term, we expect that market conditions will remain uncertain," said BHP, which has been cutting production and shelving projects amid the worst global recession in decades.
"All our operations will remain under review. We will continue to take appropriate actions in any business that is cash negative and set to remain so, or where there is lack of demand," the company added in its production report.
Last year, the Escondida mine in Chile produced 1.2 million tonnes of copper, or just under 5% of global output, so a 30% drop equates to about 360,000t.
BHP owns 57.5% of the mine. Rio Tinto holds 30% and Mitsubishi Corp 10%. Rio has agreed to sell China's Chinalco half its stake.
A BHP spokeswoman said the company had initially anticipated Escondida production to slip by around 20-25% in the company's fiscal year to 30 June.
BHP said Escondida production had been hurt by lower ore grades and weaker milling operations, dragging its overall copper output down. Escondida has been steadily returning less copper since the June 2008 quarter, when BHP yielded 178,200t of metal in concentrate and 40,300t of cathode.
"The copper number is particularly of concern because copper is a bellwether of the wider state of the industrial commodities sector," said Andrew Harrington, Sydney-based mining analyst for the Patersons brokerage.
In contrast, Rio last week showed a 33% gain in quarterly copper production, boosted by higher output from other mines it owns.
"Escondida is still a problem for both BHP and Rio," said Gavin Wendt, a mining analyst for Fat Prophets in Sydney. "But Rio was able to offset that nicely with a better performance from other non-Escondida related mines."
Copper, a manufacturing staple in everything from toilet taps to computer chips, has shed more than 6% of its value this week, though the price is up nearly 50% since January, leading some analysts to suggest the worst of the commodities bust is over.
Imports of refined copper to China, the world's biggest consumer and a big customer of Chilean mines, rose to a record 296,843t in March, Customs figures showed on Wednesday, a record amount for the second consecutive month.
A proposal by BHP to buy Rio with shares worth up to $193bn at one point would have significantly lifted BHP's exposure to copper.
Speculation BHP may make a second offer resurfaced in the last week, though takeover regulations mean it must wait until 27 November 2009 unless it can get the support of Rio's board.
So far, BHP's biggest curtailment has been in nickel, with the closure of the Ravensthorpe nickel mine in Australia. Analysts say more cutbacks could follow in other commodities, such as alumina and aluminium.
Coal output in Australia already has turned down as Asian steel mills hit hard times, with metallurgical coal output down 25% from the previous quarter. Iron ore, another steel-making commodity, is also feeling the pinch.
BHP reported a 1% drop in iron ore production and 4% fall in aluminium year-on-year, down 2% and 4% respectively on the previous quarter. Nickel rose 10% year-on-year and was off 4% on the second quarter.
Iron ore sales by BHP into higher-priced long-term contracts were reduced to 72% of overall output from its Australian mines over the last three quarters as buyers asked to defer long-term sales contracts because of weakening demand.
All the deferred ore was being sold on the spot market, BHP said.
Indonesia's Antam Q1 Ferronickel Output Falls
Indonesian state-owned miner PT Aneka Tambang said on Wednesday its first-quarter ferronickel output fell by 24% from a year ago on slowing demand because of the global financial crisis.
The company produced 3,296t of ferronickel in the January to March period, compared to 4,362t in the same period last year, Bimo Satryo, Antam's corporate secretary said.
"Demand for nickel is slowing," said Satryo, adding the decline was in line with a lower production target this year.
The first-quarter output was 27% of its ferronickel production target for this year of 12,000t.
In 2008, Antam produced 17,566t of ferronickel.
Nickel prices have slumped about 77% to $11,575 a tonne since hitting a record high of $51,800 in May 2007 on a drop of demand from stainless steel producers due to the global economic crisis.
Antam's gold output also fell 23.6% to 714.74kg in the first quarter of this year, compared to 935kg in the same period last year.
The company plans to produce 2,821kg this year, down from 2,980kg in 2008.
Antam, which is 65% owned by the Indonesian Government, is involved in the exploration and production of nickel ore, bauxite and iron sands as well as smelting of ferro-nickel, exploration and production and refining gold and silver.
The company produced 3,296t of ferronickel in the January to March period, compared to 4,362t in the same period last year, Bimo Satryo, Antam's corporate secretary said.
"Demand for nickel is slowing," said Satryo, adding the decline was in line with a lower production target this year.
The first-quarter output was 27% of its ferronickel production target for this year of 12,000t.
In 2008, Antam produced 17,566t of ferronickel.
Nickel prices have slumped about 77% to $11,575 a tonne since hitting a record high of $51,800 in May 2007 on a drop of demand from stainless steel producers due to the global economic crisis.
Antam's gold output also fell 23.6% to 714.74kg in the first quarter of this year, compared to 935kg in the same period last year.
The company plans to produce 2,821kg this year, down from 2,980kg in 2008.
Antam, which is 65% owned by the Indonesian Government, is involved in the exploration and production of nickel ore, bauxite and iron sands as well as smelting of ferro-nickel, exploration and production and refining gold and silver.
Fortescue Has Chinese Approval For Valin Deal
Australian iron ore miner Fortescue Metals has approval from China's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) for its equity tie-up with Hunan Valin Iron and Steel Group, the company said on Wednesday.
"The NDRC approval was the key milestone for the transaction and paves the way for the Chinese Ministry of Commerce and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange to formalise the agreement," Fortescue said in a statement.
Chinese state-owned steelmaker Hunan Valin already has Australian approval to take up to 17.55% of the country's third-largest iron ore miner, subject to several conditions, in a deal worth $438m.
"The NDRC approval was the key milestone for the transaction and paves the way for the Chinese Ministry of Commerce and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange to formalise the agreement," Fortescue said in a statement.
Chinese state-owned steelmaker Hunan Valin already has Australian approval to take up to 17.55% of the country's third-largest iron ore miner, subject to several conditions, in a deal worth $438m.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Bechem to Exhibit at Schleifring Grinding Symposium
The Schleifring group and its specialised daughter companies belong to the world's most important suppliers in the field of surface grinding, profile grinding, circular grinding and tool grinding.
The group of companies has organised the Schleifring Grinding Symposium, which takes place from 6 May to 8 May at Expo-Thun, Switzerland. At the event visitors will be able to learn about the innovative coolant concept Berufluid at the Bechem booth, and watch the new product in action.
The display will allow people to see the impressive performance of the new coolant generation during grinding operations on two Schaudt camshaft grinding machines.
The group of companies has organised the Schleifring Grinding Symposium, which takes place from 6 May to 8 May at Expo-Thun, Switzerland. At the event visitors will be able to learn about the innovative coolant concept Berufluid at the Bechem booth, and watch the new product in action.
The display will allow people to see the impressive performance of the new coolant generation during grinding operations on two Schaudt camshaft grinding machines.
New Website for Voith Turbo Valvex Valves
Voith Turbo, the specialist in drives and hydraulic systems, has developed a new website to showcase the products from its explosion-protected valves division.
The company has put great effort into ensuring products and system solutions are presented clearly. The website displays all key data at a glance, and detailed information and drawings can be found in brochures that are available as PDF downloads in up to six languages. User inquiries can be sent to Voith Turbo simply by submitting a form.
For more than 40 years Voith Turbo Valvex valves have been used whenever explosion protection and reliability are key criteria. The Valvex product line includes not only components such as solenoid valves and solenoid actuators for valves, but also complete hydraulic or pneumatic special solutions for use in hazardous areas.
Valvex products have been used reliably for decades in underground mining applications and refrigeration plants. They are also suitable for use in other areas such as the chemical and petrochemical industries or for pumping petroleum and natural gas.
Voith Turbo has also focused on one customer requirement in particular: direct access to approval certificates. Users can download all approval certificates in PDF format. This includes ATEX approvals for Europe, MSHA approvals for the US and Simtars approvals for Australia. Other approvals, such as GHOST (Russia) and MA (China) are being processed and will be published when they have been granted.
The company has put great effort into ensuring products and system solutions are presented clearly. The website displays all key data at a glance, and detailed information and drawings can be found in brochures that are available as PDF downloads in up to six languages. User inquiries can be sent to Voith Turbo simply by submitting a form.
For more than 40 years Voith Turbo Valvex valves have been used whenever explosion protection and reliability are key criteria. The Valvex product line includes not only components such as solenoid valves and solenoid actuators for valves, but also complete hydraulic or pneumatic special solutions for use in hazardous areas.
Valvex products have been used reliably for decades in underground mining applications and refrigeration plants. They are also suitable for use in other areas such as the chemical and petrochemical industries or for pumping petroleum and natural gas.
Voith Turbo has also focused on one customer requirement in particular: direct access to approval certificates. Users can download all approval certificates in PDF format. This includes ATEX approvals for Europe, MSHA approvals for the US and Simtars approvals for Australia. Other approvals, such as GHOST (Russia) and MA (China) are being processed and will be published when they have been granted.
Angola Says Demand for Diamonds Picking Up
Angola said on Friday sales were finally picking up after demand for gems plunged in 2008 due to the global economic downturn.
Mining Minister Makenda Ambroise urged investors to help the African nation continue to develop its mining industry but warned those that had left the country during "these times of crisis" that they would not be able to return again.
"There are positive signs," he said in an interview with Reuters, adding that sales of Angolan gems had recently surpassed $70m per month, up from around $25m at the start of the year.
"I'm not saying the crisis is over yet but we have succeeded in mitigating the effects of the crisis."
Diamond prices fell 7% in the first quarter after slumping 9% in 2008, according to PolishedPrices.com index, as recession weighed on demand for luxury goods in vital markets like the US and Europe.
Falling demand for diamonds resulted in lower prices for gems, prompting Angola to announce it could buy gems from local mining companies to bolster the industry. However, Ambroise said such a move had not yet been necessary.
BHP Billiton, the world's biggest miner, had divested from its diamond exploration projects in Angola last year in what it said was a cost-cutting measure.
"Those (companies) that left us will never again return to the sector. It is in hard times that one finds out who their friends really are," Ambroise said. He did not say which mining companies he was referring to.
He also urged new investors to come to Angola to help the resource-rich nation diversify its mining activities away from diamonds.
"This is the best time to invest in the mining sector. We are appealing to all those that have real money, technical and financial capacity, to join us and explore not only for diamonds but for other resources as well," he said.
Ambroise lowered Angola's diamond production target to around nine million carats in 2009 - around the same as in 2008 -- from around ten million for this year.
The country has around 14 active diamond mines and 100 mines open for new investors, he said.
Angola's diamond production has been growing at a steady pace since the end of an almost three-decade long civil war in 2002.
The end of the war paved the way for diamond mining giants De Beers, Anglo American and Al Rosa to partner with Endiama and tap into Angola's vast diamond reserves.
These reserves are estimated to be over 200 million carats. Yet only 42% of the diamond reserves in a country twice the size of Texas are currently being explored.
Mining Minister Makenda Ambroise urged investors to help the African nation continue to develop its mining industry but warned those that had left the country during "these times of crisis" that they would not be able to return again.
"There are positive signs," he said in an interview with Reuters, adding that sales of Angolan gems had recently surpassed $70m per month, up from around $25m at the start of the year.
"I'm not saying the crisis is over yet but we have succeeded in mitigating the effects of the crisis."
Diamond prices fell 7% in the first quarter after slumping 9% in 2008, according to PolishedPrices.com index, as recession weighed on demand for luxury goods in vital markets like the US and Europe.
Falling demand for diamonds resulted in lower prices for gems, prompting Angola to announce it could buy gems from local mining companies to bolster the industry. However, Ambroise said such a move had not yet been necessary.
BHP Billiton, the world's biggest miner, had divested from its diamond exploration projects in Angola last year in what it said was a cost-cutting measure.
"Those (companies) that left us will never again return to the sector. It is in hard times that one finds out who their friends really are," Ambroise said. He did not say which mining companies he was referring to.
He also urged new investors to come to Angola to help the resource-rich nation diversify its mining activities away from diamonds.
"This is the best time to invest in the mining sector. We are appealing to all those that have real money, technical and financial capacity, to join us and explore not only for diamonds but for other resources as well," he said.
Ambroise lowered Angola's diamond production target to around nine million carats in 2009 - around the same as in 2008 -- from around ten million for this year.
The country has around 14 active diamond mines and 100 mines open for new investors, he said.
Angola's diamond production has been growing at a steady pace since the end of an almost three-decade long civil war in 2002.
The end of the war paved the way for diamond mining giants De Beers, Anglo American and Al Rosa to partner with Endiama and tap into Angola's vast diamond reserves.
These reserves are estimated to be over 200 million carats. Yet only 42% of the diamond reserves in a country twice the size of Texas are currently being explored.
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